Buffy… The TimeCop?
by grpruett
Summary: The slayer’s enemies are not getting any stronger, but they are getting craftier. When a cofounding scientist of the time traveling device turned into a vampire, he takes his terror into the past. Buffy comes out of retirement and joins the TEC. Crossover
1. Chapter 1

**Buffy/Angel/TimeCop/Supernatural (Possibly even more) crossover. I do not own nor do I have a claim to anything from the crossover shows that are in this story **

**Buffy… The TimeCop?**

Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 10:00 A.M. in Washington D.C., the crew at the Time Enforcement Commission agency (TEC) was preparing for their newly designed equipment. They had shut down the old equipment and had disconnected a few components, but before they were able to start hauling the old equipment away, Capt. Eugene Matuzek stepped in and commanded, "Stop and restore the equipment to its previous condition." Everyone gave him a stunned look. "Logan; Easter; Hemmings, meet me in the briefing in ten minutes." The three just gave each other a curious and confused look.

"What's going on now?" was the question that Capt. Matuzek heard when he turned to leave the room.

Ten minutes later, as the three who were summoned to the briefing room had stepped in, they glanced at the three people, a blonde-haired woman, a brown-haired woman and a brown-haired man, who were seated at the table before taking their seats. All three were in their early thirties.

Capt. Matuzek was at the head of the table next to the laptop and projector and before he was able to begin the briefing, Jack faced him while asking, "Is there a problem, Captain."

"A major situation has developed. Before I say anymore let me introduced everyone to each other." Capt. Matuzek pointed to each one as he said his or her name. "Officer Jack Logan; Logan is our leading Time Enforcement Officer. Claire Hemmings; Hemmings is a scientist and our computer expert. Dr. Dale Easter; Dr. Easter is our historian. Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris…"

"What do you three do?" Jack interrupted with.

Buffy spoke first with, "Willow and I are co-owners of the Mystic Willow Bookstore. From the name you're probably could figure out to what kind of books we sell. Xander is foreman for a Ryan's Construction."

"Your three's credentials makes perfect sense as to why we are sitting in a briefing room together," Jack sarcastically said.

"Their chosen professions are not why they're here," Capt. Matuzek quickly said. "What they do once the sun sets is what makes them important."

"Which is?" Jack questioned.

"They are the trainers; the advisors and the researchers for Tabitha Foxworthy," Capt. Matuzek.

"Who is Tabitha Foxworthy?" Claire questioned.

"She is the current vampire slayer," Buffy said.

"I'm sorry, I think my mind might have wandered a bit because I could have sworn that you said that she was a vampire slayer," Jack commented.

Buffy looked Jack in the eyes while saying, "I did."

Jack looked at Buffy as if she had lost her mind before turning towards his CO while saying, "Sir…"

"Before you say anything else, I have a surveillance tape that you need to watch," Capt. Matuzek interrupted with. He then pressed a button to play an AVI file from his computer. It was projected on to a screen. "This surveillance was taken about seven hours ago."

Twelve and a half hours earlier, Dr. Julius Briers awaken inside of a sealed coffin in the cargo section of a plane that was making a landing at the major airport in Washington D.C. The coffin was first loaded in New Sunnydale, California. Julius attempted to bust lose from his coffin, but when he heard footsteps, he stopped. He remained quiet for the thirty minutes that it took for the coffin to come to a rest at the mortuary. The mortician opened the coffin to prepare the body and before he had time to realize the situation, Julius had grabbed him and sunk his fangs into his neck.

The mortician was Julius' first meal since he was turned and he relished in the moment. Once he got his fill, he threw the drained corpse to the side and left the mortuary. A grinned came across his face when he recognized the sites. He then made his way cross town by foot. Three hours later, he broke into a secured warehouse of where the newly designed time traveling device was being temporarily stored. Eight guards were guarding the device while waiting for a truck to haul it away at dawn and within minutes all eight of them had met their fate. The security camera captured the slaughter of film.

Present time, when Claire saw Julian stepping into view of the camera just before the slaughter, she blurted out, "That man looks like Dr. Briers."

"He is Dr. Briers," Capt. Matuzek confirmed.

"That can't be him," Jack quickly said. "Dr. Briers was attacked and killed two nights ago in New Sunnydale, California."

"Just watch," Capt Matuzek said. Within minutes the slaughter began. Buffy closely watched their reactions to the event. Claire gasped just before covering her mouth. After showing all eight deaths, Capt. Matuzek stopped the video. "Dr, Briers was bitten by a vampire two nights ago and now he's a vampire in possession of a time machine."

Jack sarcastically said with a smirk, "Great; I was getting bored with the run of the mill time fugitive anyway. Chasing after vampires will living things up… so to speak."

"You or Claire won't be going after any vampires; however, you will be training the one or ones who will be," Capt. Matuzek said.

"You want me to train Tabitha Foxworthy?" Jack questioned.

"You won't be training Tabitha," Buffy said. "She's only sixteen and I seriously doubt that her mother will allow her to leave New Sunnydale."

"Then who will I be training?" Jack asked.

Buffy gestured to herself, Willow and Xander before saying, "Us three along with three or four others."

Jack slightly chuckled while mocking, "You? No offence lady, but you don't look like anyone to be going after vampires."

Buffy gave him a smug grin before saying, "More than fifteen years ago the life expectancy of a slayer was less than four years after being chosen; no slayer had ever live more than four years. I became a slayer just before my sixteenth birthday and as you can see, I'm still living. However, as a slayer I'm retired. I'll assist in battles where I can, but my role now is more of a trainer and an advisor to the current slayer. Willow and Xander help with research."

"If you or Tabitha are not the ones to go after Dr. Briers then who is?" Jack questioned.

"That part is still open, but I do have a list of potential candidates and each candidate was once a potential slayer," Buffy said. "We three will be accompanying the one we choose though."

Claire caught the meaning to Buffy's words and questioned, "Your candidates were once potential slayers, but they're not anymore?"

"That's correct," Buffy began. "A teenage girl is the only person who can become a slayer and that only occurs from the immediate death of a previous slayer. Any potential slayer who reaches the age of twenty without being called upon will never be called upon as the slayer."

"Wait," Jack blurted out. "If a slayer has to die before another one can be called upon, then how are you not the current slayer?"

"During one of my early battles, I was legally dead for a couple of minutes," Buffy said. "I was revived, but not before another slayer was called upon."

"So since that day, there have always been two active slayers?" Jack questioned. Buffy nodded with a grinned. "Interesting."

"Actually, there are three slayers, Buff," Willow pointed out. "Faith is still alive."

"Who's Faith?" Claire questioned.

"There were two slayers called up in a short time after my brief death," Buffy said. "Faith was the second one. She turned bad and then good again. She turned herself in and went to prison for her crimes. While in prison, she had herself killed and then revived so the next slayer could be called upon. She's out of prison now and works with Angel."

"Faith is working for an actual angel or is angel her name?" Jack questioned.

"Angel is his name," Buffy corrected.

"Trust me; he's no angel," Xander finally spoke.

"Xander," Buffy said in a tone to warn him not to continue.

"Is there something going on?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Nothing relevant to us," Buffy claimed.

"This is my operation and I'll decide what is relevant," Capt. Matuzek said. "What are you not telling me?"

Buffy hesitated before letting out a sigh. She then said, "Angel is a vampire with a soul."

"He's a vampire with a soul?" Jack mocked in disbelief.

"He fights demons and other vampires as the same as any slayer," Buffy continued to say.

"But watch out if Angelus takes over," Xander added.

"Xander," Buffy again warned him not to continue.

"Who is Angelus?" Capt. Matuzek inquired.

Buffy took a breath before saying, "Okay, here's the four-one-one on Angel. Angelus is Angel without a soul and once upon a time Angelus was a slayer's worst nightmare. Then one day a gypsy cursed him with a soul and now as Angel he is forever tormented by his own guilt of his past killing spree. The only way to end the curse is a moment of pure pleasure. During the past fifteen years, Angel has become Angelus again around three times, but each time we were able to restore the curse. As I said though, he's not relevant to us."

"The last thing we need is Dr. Briers discovering the truth about Angel or should I say, Angelus," Capt. Matuzek said. "Ms. Summers…"

"It's Buffy; not Ms. Summers," she corrected.

"Okay, Buffy," Capt. Matuzek. "I want to know Angel's exact whereabouts, so we can put an agent watching him so he won't become Angelus again and join forces with Dr. Briers."

"Good luck with that," Willow commented. Capt. Matuzek gave her a curious look. "Angel is not one to be tracked or to be tracked for long. You can try, but the best has already failed."

"I must agree with Willow," Xander said. "The only way anyone can track Angel is if Angel wants to be tracked."

"As I said; Angelus was a slayer's worst nightmare," Buffy added. "And if you want to keep a watch on Angel to make sure he stays Angel, you must have someone gain his trust and join his group."

"If that's what I have to do, then that is what we'll do," Capt. Matuzek said. "Buffy, sometime after this briefing, write up a quick summary on the best way to gain Angel's trust."

"Gaining his trust won't be easy, but if you give me a pencil and paper, I'll give you tips on that now," Buffy said.

As Capt. Matuzek was providing Buffy with the pencil and paper Claire questioned, "So how do we deal with this situation?"

"Well, Dr. Briers knows that we'll go after him if he went into the past, so what I foresee him doing is turning others into vampires and sending them into the past," Capt. Matuzek said. Buffy was listening as she was writing. "Dr. Easter, your job won't change any, but unfortunately we won't know if the time disruption will be from a time fugitive or from a vampire sent by Dr. Briers. Therefore, Jack, you and Buffy will be sent into the past together to determine the threat. If it a time fugitive then Buffy will return and the appropriate back-up will be sent and if it's a vampire then Jack will return and Buffy's group will be sent. Right now though, Dr. Briers and that time device he took are off our radar and I estimate that we'll have less than a week before he's up and running with his time device."

"Captain, that time device Dr. Briers took was supposed to have been ours and it's the most advance piece of machinery ever created…" Dr. Easter was able to get out.

"Dr. Easter, I know that Dr. Briers has the advantage over us," Capt. Matuzek said. "He will be able to pinpoint a specific time more accurately than us, but that just means that we must improve on our own calculation so we don't overshoot the time period by weeks as we did while going after time fugitives. Buffy you have twenty-four hours to assemble your team.

Buffy paused at what she was writing and said, "That doesn't give me much time."

"I realize that, but time is not on our side on this… which I know is ironic since we control a time machine at this facility; however, going back in time to when the other time machine gets stolen is a time violation." Capt. Matuzek said. "To help speed up things for you, Buffy, Logan can accompany you to wherever on Earth you need to go to assemble your team. Logan, you are authorized to use the jet. The pilot is already preparing it for your use as we speak. I believe I had covered everything that needs to be done. Does anyone have any questions?"

"I have one," Jack said. "Buffy, this probably none of my business, but what prompt you to come to this facility?"

Buffy was finishing up at what she was writing while saying, "We were after Dr. Briers since his name showed up in the newspaper along with describing of how he died. We didn't know that his body was going to be moved to the airport or we would have moved sooner. We trailed behind the movements of the coffin the entire night by at least thirty minutes. Once we got to Washington D.C. and learned that he was awake, we turned on our police scanner. When we heard about the eight deaths we went to check it out. After we reached the scene we turned on our listening device and learned about this facility. And the rest you know."

"Does anyone else have anymore questions?" Capt. Matuzek asked as Buffy pushed the paper back towards him. He glanced at the paper and noticed that there was an address to Angel's detective agency written at the top of the paper. When everyone said that they were good, Capt. Matuzek continued to say, "Well, before I end this briefing, everyone should know that I'm setting up Buffy and her group in that vacant office on the sixth floor and we can share the weight room, the gym, the locker room and the showers. Buffy, we have more than enough cots too if you need sleeping arrangements."

"We appreciate it," Buffy said.

"Okay; if there's nothing else, then everyone is dismissed," Capt. Matuzek said.

As everyone was standing Buffy said, "Xander; Willow, since I have only twenty-four hours to recruit our group, I want to leave immediately." Jack was closely listening to what was being said. "Unless you two have objections to remain here, I would like you two to get organized here."

"No objections," Willow and Xander said as they were leaving the briefing room.

"Buffy, I'm good to go now if you're ready," Jack said.

"I'm ready," Buffy responded.

"Follow me," Jack said. Buffy went with Jack as, Claire and Dale escorted Willow and Xander to their office.

Minutes later, Buffy and Jack were boarding the plane. The pilot had finished preflight minutes ago and was lounging around. When he saw the two boarding, he stood up and questioned, "So Jack, where are we off to?"

Jack turned towards Buffy to answer. Buffy gave Jack a confused look for a brief moment before blurting out, "Oh, ah, all the candidates are located between the Midwest and the West Coast region." She quickly got out her list from her purse. "The closest candidate from here is located in St. Louis."

"That sounds like a good place to start," Jack said. "James, take us to St. Louis."

"You got it," James said as he closed the door to the plane.

"Oh and James, this is Buffy," Jack said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Buffy," James said.

"It's nice to meet you, James" Buffy said.

James nodded with a grin before turning towards the pilot's seat. Buffy and Jack went and sat down.

While putting on their seat belts, Jack said, "Before watching that surveillance tape I thought vampires were fiction."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Before coming here I thought time traveling was fiction."

Jack grinned before saying, "The trip to St. Louis is going to be somewhat long. To past the time, I would love to hear as to how you became the slayer."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I was fifteen and a cheerleader. My only worries at the time were not screwing up my moves. Little did I know that there was a man… a watcher appointed by the watcher council, stalking me…"

Buffy talked in great detail as to how she became the slayer during the entire trip to St. Louis. Jack listened intensely and when the plane landed Buffy was only midway through her story. She stopped talking about it before exiting the plane and waited until she was in the passenger seat and Jack behind the wheel of their rental car before she continued. They were two-thirds two where they were going before Buffy concluded the story of how she became the slayer.

"Wow, I thought I had interesting stories," Jack said.

"Tell me one."

Jack glanced at the GPS before saying, "According to the map, we're getting close to where we're going. My story isn't as long as yours, but I still don't have time to tell it before we reach our destination. And speaking of that, who are we going to see there."

Buffy gazed at her list before saying, "Our first candidate is Wendy Cathleen Kolmar. She just turned twenty-one last week. She was expelled several times before dropping out of high school at the age of seventeen."

"How do you know that Wendy Kolmar was once a potential slayer?"

Buffy gave him a dubious grinned before saying, "Willow and I have our sources,"

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"I can, but you might not believe me."

"After learning about vampires and Buffy the vampire slayer, I'll pretty much believe anything at this point."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Willow practices witchcraft. After almost falling into the dark side of the craft she stays away from anything powerful, but she still dabbles with the light magic. Luckily for us, finding potential slayers fall into the category of light magic."

"So Willow used her witchcraft to find the people on your list?"

"You got it. And the list I have was made up five years ago to protect potential slayers when a novice vampire summoned a demon to kill those slayers. Fortunately for us, only one potential slayer was killed before we were able to kill the demon and the vampire. We didn't even have to leave New Sunnydale to do it."

"That reminds me. About ten years ago, I read an article in the paper about how the city of the original Sunnydale was literally wiped off the map by a strange phenomenon. Do you know what happen?" Buffy just gave him a dubious smile. He gave her a strange look before saying, "Don't tell me that you had something to do with that."

"I had everything to do with that actually and believe it or not that would have been on a global scale if I wasn't able to stop that demon."

"I get the feeling that my stories are boring compared to yours." Buffy just grinned.

Minutes later, Jack parked the rental car on Tamm Ave. between Lloyd Ave. and Wade Ave. As he and Buffy were stepping out of the car, Jack noticed the street names around him. His thoughts wandered and when Buffy saw the dreamlike expression on his face, she asked, "Jack, are you okay?" Jack snapped out of his thoughts and gave Buffy an inquisitive look. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah; I'm fine. During my college freshman year, I dated a woman who grew up in this neighborhood. This part of St. Louis is called Dogtown."

Buffy gave him a curious look before saying, "How did that name get started."

"I think Mindy told me the night that we met, but to be honest, I wasn't really listening to the explanation. My mind was on other things."

Buffy shook her head while saying, "I'm not going to ask."

Jack smiled and before he could respond, Buffy took off towards the house. Once they stepped up to the door, Buffy knocked. After waiting several seconds Buffy was about to knock again, but before she had a chance to, a woman in her early forties answered the door.

The woman glanced at Buffy first and then Jack. As she rest her stare on Buffy, she asked, "May I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers and this is Jack Logan. Does Wendy Kolmar lives here?"

"Do you have a warrant?" the woman asked.

Buffy gave her a confused look while mocking, "Warrant?" Jack was about to say something when Buffy continued. "No-no; we're not cops. We do need to talk with her if we can. Does she live here?"

"She does, but she not here."

"Do you know where we can find her?" Jack asked.

"She's working; she works on the Hill."

"She works on what hill?" Buffy questioned.

The woman sarcastically said, "The Hill… Dego Hill."

"We are not from around here," Jack said.

"That's becoming clear," the woman said.

"Can you tell me the place where Wendy works?" Jack asked. The woman just gave him a skeptical stare. "Our attentions towards her are honorable. I can even give you a list of names and numbers so you can check up on me."

The woman took a breath before saying, "She's working at Rigazzi's." She then told them the address to the place and the direction to get there.

"Thank you, Ms…" Buffy said before realizing that she didn't know her name.

"Kurtz," the woman supplied the name. "And it's Mrs."

"Bye, Mrs. Kurtz," Buffy said.

Mrs. Kurtz just nodded before backing up and shutting the door.

As Buffy and Jack were walking back towards the car, Jack said, "Most likely, she's calling Wendy about us this very minute."

"I'm not an amateur at this. Wendy will be expecting us along with… oh, I'm going to say four people. The four will be sitting spread out around her. One may be in hearing distance while the other three will only be able to watch us."

"That's if she doesn't duck out before we get there."

"Well, that's a possibility also." Seconds later, Jack and Buffy got back into the car. Buffy entered the Rigazzi's address into the GPS as Jack drove off. "I'm hungry, so once we get there, I'm ordering something to eat."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

Rigazzi's was moderately crowed. When Jack and Buffy stepped in they gazed the room. A young waitress in her early twenties with the name plate of Cat stepped up to them and asked, "A table for two?"

"Yes, two," they both said.

Once the waitress led them to a table, Jack and Buffy each took a seat. The waitress handed them each a menu while asking, "What can I get you two to drink?" They both told her the type of soda that they wanted. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Your nametag reads Cat," Buffy said before the waitress had a chance to step away.

"I know what my nametag reads. What about it?"

"Is that short for Cathleen?"

"It can be, but not necessarily."

"Is it short for Cathleen this time?"

"What is your interest with my name?"

"Besides dining, we are interested in talking with Wendy Cathleen Kolmar. Are you her?"

"You two must be Buffy Summer and Jack Logan," she said as she gazed off in a direction.

Buffy quickly glanced in the direction that she had looked. She didn't see anyone who stood out. She faced the waitress again before saying, "We are. You're Wendy aren't you?"

Jack saw a tell in the waitress' face. Before the waitress responded, Jack said, "She's not Wendy. She is wearing her nametag though." He looked the waitress in the eyes. "Isn't that right?"

"Okay, I'm not Cat. My name's Megan. Cat doesn't want to speak to you though."

Buffy gazed the room. When she spotted a woman who could have been twenty-one while serving drinks behind the bar, she stood up and walked towards her.

Jack saw Megan shrugging her shoulders towards the woman behind the bar. The woman sighed and shook her head. Jack slightly grinned when he realized that Buffy had correctly guessed as to who Wendy (Cat) was.

As Buffy was taking a seat at the bar, Cat questioned, "Buffy Summers, now that you found me, what do you want with me?"

Buffy was attempting to locate who might be listening in as she described in a low volume about what a slayer would feel or dream before being called upon. As Buffy talked, she could tell that her words were hitting home. She then quickly said, "I can tell in your face that you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I thought I was the only one to have those feelings and dreams."

"Wendy…"

"It's Cat," she corrected.

"Okay; Cat. Cat, if we can go somewhere private, I can tell you why you felt those feelings and dreamt those dreams."

Cat hesitated for a second before nodding and saying, "Okay. My break isn't for another thirty minutes. Can you wait that long?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "I can. In fact I have plans to eat as well. Can you recommend a dish?"

"Sure." Cat then listed four commonly ordered dishes.

A minute later, Buffy was retaking her seat next to Jack, while two men in their early twenties stepped in. Buffy glanced at the two men and did a double-take to what one of them was wearing as a necklace.

When Jack noticed the concerning stare that Buffy was giving the man, he asked, "Is there a problem?"

"One of the two who just walked in is wearing a protective talisman."

"What is it supposed to protect against?"

"To most demons to a small degree, but mainly it's to ward off possessor demons." Jack gave Buffy a skeptical look just before Buffy stood up. "I need to find something out."

"Where are you going?"

"Those two don't appear to me as demon hunters, but demon hunters will sometimes wear that type of talisman. And even though hunters are clumsy while fighting demons with their awkward and barely effective style, they are good trackers."

"You want to recruit a hunter?" Jack quickly questioned.

"I wouldn't mind having two hunters in my group if at all possible." Before Jack could respond, Buffy walked away.

The two men had just sat down and when they saw Buffy approaching, the one without the talisman said, "Beers and…"

"I'm not the waitress," Buffy interrupted with as she took a seat at the table. From where Buffy was sitting, Jack was able to read her lips.

The two men were staring at Buffy in a curious manner as the man continued to say, "Is there something we can help you with?"

Buffy ignored the man and as she turned towards t the one wearing the talisman, she said, "Someone very close to you had died from a kind of death that could only be explained through a demonic explanation." Both men gave Buffy a look as if she was a mental case. "Okay, from the expressions of your faces, I see that that's not the case."

"I'm sorry, Lady, but I think you have us confuse with two other guys," the man with the talisman said.

"I think you're right," Buffy confirmed. "Before I go though where did you get a necklace like that? I mean, I would love to get one. I would even pay good money for one just like it."

The man took hold of the talisman before saying, "Oh, ah, a guy who my mom knows… or knew had given this to me. I was about six… I had been sick for at least a year when he gave it to me. I think he gave it to me just to make me feel better. Anyway, miraculously my health improved after getting this. This may sound a little superstitious, but I don't take it off. I'm scared if I do, I would get sick again."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'm a bit superstitious myself. Anyway, you said that your mom knew the guy who gave you the necklace. Your mom doesn't talk to him anymore?"

"Honestly, I don't know. The guy… John I think is his name. John would travel a lot and would only visit my mom while he was in St. Louis."

"I would really like to get a necklace like that, so if I give you my name and cell phone number, could you pass it on to your mom to pass on to John? And of course I know that John won't get that message if your mom and John no longer talks."

The man slightly shrugged before saying, "Sure."

"Great," Buffy said as she stood up. "I'll get a piece of paper from the barmaid and I'll be back with my number."

"That's super," the man said. Buffy turned and walk away.

Buffy went and got a piece of paper and a pen. Once she wrote out her number, she returned to the two men's table and handed the paper to the man. The man just politely grinned and nodded as he put the paper in his pocket.

Megan was at the table when Buffy returned. She sat down and gave Megan her food order. As Megan was leaving, Jack said, "I was able to read your lips from here." Buffy just grinned. "What was that, that you were telling him about someone close to him dying through a demonic explanation?"

"Demon hunters have one thing in common. Someone very close to them was killed by a demon."

"Why do you think that?"

"Hypothetically let's say that I walked up to you last night and told you who I was along with being a slayer. What would your honest reaction be?"

"To be honest, when you told me about how you train the current slayer, my first thoughts was that, you were ready for the rubber room."

"And you're not alone. For someone to believe in a demon or a vampire, that person must witness it first hand. Normally a witness to a demon will just grab a talisman or an incantation to ward off the demon. Only a person out for revenge would go after a demon and most people who begin the hunt have no clue to which demon that they are even after. To get the right demon they decide to go after all of them. It only takes a few kills for demon hunting to become a way of life. And I know that first hand."

"What you say make since. You also think that a hunter gave that talisman to that guy."

"I do think that. As I said, I wouldn't mind having hunters on our team, so I do hope that whoever gave him the talisman will call me," Buffy then whispered, "To change the subject, I would like to know about how you became a timecop."

Jack grinned before he began his story. He was still in the middle of his story when the food came. He waited until Megan was gone before continuing. He talked for another few more minutes and paused when he saw Cat approaching. Buffy turned to look and when Cat stepped up, Cat said, "I'm able to take my break now."

Buffy stood up while saying, "We can talk outside." Cat nodded before Buffy turned towards Jack. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I'll be here."

Buffy and Cat remained quiet as they walked towards the exit. After stepping outside, Cat asked, "So, Buffy, why do I dream those dreams."

"Those dreams were to prepare you in case you need to be called upon."

Cat gave Buffy a puzzled look before asking, "Called upon for what?"

"Do you believe in demons and vampires?" Cat's expression changed from a puzzling expression to an expression as if she was looking at an escape mental patient. "And from that look you're giving me, I'm going to say no; however, demons and vampires are real. You started dreaming about demons and vampires at the age of fifteen and those dreams were preparing you to become the slayer."

Cat gestured towards the door while saying in tone fearful to upset her, "I'm going back in now."

Before Cat had a chance to take a step, Buffy blurted out, "You didn't get the nickname 'Cat' because of your middle name." Buffy's words had grabbed Cat's attention. "At first I thought you did, but you didn't, did you? Your nickname came from your catlike reflexes and your clandestine movements. Although you don't show muscle tone, you are twice as strong if not more as a normal man. Your reflexes, clandestine movements and strength are all characteristics of a vampire slayer. I know this because about fifteen years ago, I was chosen. Between ten and fifteen years ago, I was the slayer."

"I'm going to pretend for one minute that you're not a crazy woman." Buffy just grinned. "Are you here to tell me that I'm the next… the next vampire slayer?"

"You're not the slayer and since you are over the age of twenty, you'll never become the slayer."

"Then why are you here?"

"Well although that you won't become the actual slayer, I can still use your slayer talents. I'm going after a certain vampire and where I have to go to get him the chosen slayer can't follow."

"You want me to help you go after that vampire?"

"I am assembling a team and you are a potential team member."

"And if I don't join your team?"

"I have a list of names of eight women who were once potential slayers. And like you they are twenty years old or older. You are the first of the eight who I approached with this and I'm hoping to recruit three… perhaps even four women from my list."

"While still pretending that you aren't crazy, where exactly are you going in order to stop this vampire?"

"Well, this journey will start in Washington D.C. and I can't really tell you more than that until we are in Washington D.C. Will you join me?"

"I do like a challenge and although going after a vampire sounds like a challenge, I'm going to pass."

Buffy slightly sighed before saying, "In case you would change your mind after I leave, I would like to give you an address in Washington D.C. of where I will be."

"You will be wasting your time, but sure. You can give me an address."

Buffy and Cat went back into the restaurant. After reaching the bar, Cat handed Buffy a piece of paper and pencil. Buffy wrote out the address to the TEC facility and once Buffy gave Cat the address, she and Jack left the restaurant.

After getting back into car, Jack asked, "So where do we go from here."

Buffy pulled out the list and glanced at it before saying, "Dallas, Texas is where we need to go."

Before starting the car, Jack pulled out his cell phone and said, "I'll let James know to prepare the plane."

Buffy gazed over the list as Jack made his call. When Jack was done a minute later, Buffy said, "The name of the one who is in Dallas is Nichole White." Jack started the car. "She's twenty-two. Her school record reads much like Cat's record does, except for that she did graduate high school. I don't have a home address for her, but I do have an address to a gym. Hopefully we'll find her there once we get to Dallas."

As Jack drove away he said, "So tell me another one of your stories."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Since you deal with time travel, you might be interested to know that my friends and I were caught in a time loop… in fact twice." Jack gave her a curious look. "The second time loop was cause by three menacing college science nerds who was testing their luck with me. The first one I have no clue as to what caused the time loop, but saving a fireman's life is what ended it. I call that story 'the Fireman' and for some strange reason, my sister Dawn was the only one who knew that we were in a time loop. If I knew the full story on that, I would tell you that one."

"Why don't you tell me what you do know," Jack said.

Buffy grinned and said, "Okay here's what I know…"


	2. Chapter 2

**(This chapter is set within the fifth season; before Joyce's death)**

On a Saturday afternoon in Sunnydale, Joseph Cooper, a nine-year-old boy, was walking home from a friend's house when he spotted something glittering near the front wheel of a parked car. He quickly ran over to it and picked it up.

"Wow, an Olympic medal," he said. He then put it around his neck and ran home. He ran passed four two-story houses and after reaching the fifth two-story house he turned into the yard. He ran up the steps and swung open the door. "Mom! Mom! Look at what I found!"

"I'm upstairs, Sweetie!" Liz, Joseph's mother, yelled.

Joe ran up the stairs and into his bedroom. Liz was putting away Joe's clothes into a drawer when Joe ran in.

"Mom, I found an Olympic medal," Joe said as he held it a few inches from his chest.

"Take it off your neck Little Buddy and let me see it for a minute," Liz said as she closed the drawer.

"I found it while walking home from Ned's house," Joe said as he took it off his neck. He then handed it to his mom. "Isn't cool, Mom?"

"This is cool, Little Buddy. But Sweetie, this isn't an Olympic medal."

"It's not?" Joe asked with a disappointing expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, Little Buddy, it's not. But hey; this way, if the owner doesn't come looking for it, you get to keep it. If it was a real Olympic medal we would have to find the owner and give it back."

"What is it, Mom, if it not an Olympic medal?"

"Well, looking at the unusual doubled image encircled by stars, it looks like a very cool looking amulet necklace."

"It's just a necklace?" Joe asked with even more of a disappointing expression on his face.

"It's not just a necklace, Little Buddy. Some people think that this type of necklace possesses magic. That is why it is called an amulet"

"What kind of magic?" Joe asked with renewed excitement in his voice.

"You know I bet it's the kind that will drive away those monsters out from under your bed when you try to sleep."

"Ah, Mom, you're teasing me."

"I'll bet you if you will ask your dad when he comes home from work he will tell you the same thing."

"But, Mom, I'll be in bed by then."

"I'll tell you what. If you promise me that you will go to bed right afterwards without giving me or your dad any trouble about it, I will let you stay up until your dad gets home."

"All right! I get to stay up after midnight!"

"Only if you promise me you will go to bed after you get to see your dad."

"I promise," Joe said as Liz handed him back the amulet. There was then a short pause. "Mom does this amulet have other magic than just keeping the monsters away?"

"Well, Little Buddy, I'll bet if you believe strongly enough, then this amulet will make any of your wishes come true."

"Oh cool! Mom, can I go show Ned?"

"Joey, you just got home from Ned's."

"I know, but Ned would think this is cool."

"You can show Ned the amulet tomorrow. The sun is about to set and I don't want you out after sunset."

"All right. Mom, can I have a piece of cake?"

"A small piece. I'm about to start dinner and you don't need to ruin your appetite."

"What are we having?" Joe asked as he was backing up towards the door.

"How does spaghetti and meatballs sound?" asked Liz.

"Delicious," Joe said as he entered the hallway.

"Remember, Young Man, that I said a small piece of cake," Liz said loudly as she too began to leave the bedroom.

"Yes, Mom," Joe yelled back as he slightly ran down the steps.

After leaving Joe's bedroom she entered hers. She went over to the phone next to the bed and picked it. After dialing, she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Sunnydale fire department, Mark speaking," a man said on the receiving end.

"Mark, hi. This is Liz. Is Scott there?"

"Hold on Liz and I'll get your husband for you."

"All right, thanks, Mark." Liz waited for a minute before Scott got on the phone. She then proceeded to tell Scott what Joe had found and what she had told Joe about it.

11:40 that evening, Liz and Joe were playing cards when they heard a vehicle pulled up in the driveway.

"Dad's home," Joe yelled as he dropped his cards on the table. Liz quickly glanced at the clock on the VCR as she laid her cards down.

"If that's your dad, he's home early," Liz said as Joe ran to the door.

As Joe was opening the door, Liz walked up behind him. As the door opened, Liz wasn't sure what to think when she saw who it was.

"Who's that, Mom?"

"That's Capt. Henderson. He's your daddy's boss, Little Buddy. Joe, Sweetie, go to your room for a few minutes."

"But what did I do?" Joe asked as Capt. Henderson was getting out of his car.

"You're not in trouble, Little Buddy. I just have to talk to Capt. Henderson alone. So, please, Sweetie, go to your room. I promise you, you won't have to stay up there long."

"I want to stay with you," Joe said as Capt. Henderson began walking towards the door with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"Joe, do what you're told!" Liz exclaimed in a stern tone; a tone that Joe had never heard from his mom before.

"Okay," Joe said as he backed away from the door. "You're starting to sound like Dad."

As Joe went up the steps, Liz stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "You are here and Scott is not," Liz began. "Please tell me that there's nothing wrong."

"Elizabeth," Capt. Henderson said. He then paused for the correct words.

Liz asked with tears running down her cheek, "How bad is he hurt and how did it happen?"

"Scott was able to hand Mark a five-year-old girl out of a third-story window of a burning building. The girl was barely in Mark's arms when the roof collapsed," Capt. Henderson said.

"How is my husband?" Liz calmly asked as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

"I don't know how else to say this, Elizabeth, except to come out and say it. Scott gave his life to save a family tonight." Liz backed up against the door and then slid down into a crouch position. Her face became hidden as she pressed it against her legs. "Elizabeth, I'm here if you need someone to talk to." Except for the weeping, Liz kept silent and motionless. "Elizabeth, if you won't talk to me then you should find someone who you will talk to." Again except for her weeping, Liz kept quite. "Elizabeth, please talk to me. Please tell me how I can help."

Liz lifted her head up and wiped her bloodshot eyes. She then stared into Capt. Henderson's eyes while saying through clenched teeth, "The only way that you can help me, is if you can turn back the clock and make sure my husband comes home."

"Please don't do this to yourself, Elisabeth. Please tell me how I can help ease your…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Liz exclaimed while cutting him off in mid-sentence. She then stood up again. "Capt. Henderson, will you please leave."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"All right. But before I leave I want to give you a business card," Capt. Henderson said as he pulled out his wallet.

"Your business card?" Liz questioned.

"No. It's a number to a support group," Capt. Henderson said as he was pulling out the card. "Before you say anything, I know you probably feel that you don't need it. But please take it. Days or even weeks from now you might decide that you would want to talk about your grievous loss. There's nothing that will help more than a support group."

Liz just stood motionless and silent just for a brief moment. Capt. Henderson saw in her face that she was trying to sort things out in her mind. She then calmly held out her hand and said, "I won't promise you that I will use the card."

"That's okay," Capt. Henderson said as he laid the card in her hand. "I just want your promise that you will keep this card handy just in case you do decide to use it."

Liz just nodded her head as she put the card in her front pants-pocket. She then turned toward the door. She paused for a moment to collect herself before opening the door and stepping in. Liz went directly to Joe's bedroom door where she took the time to wipe the tears from her eyes one last time. She then knocked on the bedroom door. When Joe opened the door she walked in.

"Mom, did Capt. Henderson hurt you or make you sad?"

"Joe, I want you to sit down," Liz said as she pointed to the bed. Joe sat down without saying a word. Liz then sat down beside him. "Joe." Liz was having trouble speaking. While her tears flowed down her cheeks, she turned away from her son while trying to get her emotions under control.

"Mom, you're scaring me."

Liz took a deep breath. She then turned to face Joe again. "Joe, I'm hoping that you are old enough to understand what I 'm about to say."

"Old enough to understand what?"

"Your daddy had done a very good thing today. He had saved a family from a burning building."

"When is dad coming home?"

"Joe, this is the part that I want you to understand. Your dad had to go into a building that was on fire to save this family. He then had to stay inside the building to make sure that the family members got out one by one."

"I understand that, Mom. But when is dad coming home?"

Liz practically barked out, "Joe, please stop interrupting! This is hard to say as it is!"

Joe had a slight terrified look on his face before saying, "I'm sorry, Mom."

"No, I'm sorry, Little Buddy. I'm sorry. I'm trying to tell you that your dad did not get out of the fire in time. Joe, please understand this. Your dad is in heaven now."

"No!" Joe exclaimed as he began to cry. "Why did he have to save those people? Why did he have to go to heaven now?"

"Joe, now you need to understand this. He was able to go to heaven because he saved those people. God doesn't want people in heaven who allow another person to get hurt. Those people go to a place called hell. And hell is a place that god sends people to be punished."

"If dad had left that family in the burning building god would have sent dad to hell to be punished?"

"I think that you understand very well, Little Buddy."

"Mom, if I use my amulet, could I wish dad to be here instead of being in heaven?"

"I'm afraid not, Little Buddy. You see god had allowed the amulet to be made under the condition that god has power over the amulet. The only way for your dad not to go to heaven is if god would turn back the clock and start the day all over again. But things would have to be change to keep the same things from happening all over again."

"What kind of things?" asked Joe.

"Things like keeping the fire from happening. Or even if the fire was discovered before the family got trapped inside; anything that would stop your dad from entering that building."

"I think I understand."

"I'm glad. Now, it is time for both of us to get ready for bed. And Joe, if you want, you can sleep with me tonight in my bed."

"Can I sleep in my own bed?"

"Of course. I just thought you would want to sleep with me tonight."

"How about tomorrow? Could I sleep with you tomorrow?"

Liz smiled before saying, "Sure you can, Little Buddy. How about a hug and kiss goodnight." As they hug each other, Liz found that she had trouble releasing Joe from her hug. After Liz finally turned loose, she quickly gave Joe a kiss before standing up.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Little Buddy," Liz said as she brushes Joe's hair with her hand. "Now you need to put your pajamas on and try to get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long and busy day."

"I will." Liz then turned and walked out of the room. Joe quickly got his pajamas on. He turned off the lights except for a dim night-light. After grabbing the amulet off of his dresser he jumped into bed. While holding the amulet tight with both hands he chanted with a hundred percent concentration, "Please restart the day and don't let my dad die this time."

6:00 A.M. a knock on the door woke Dawn up from a sound sleep. "I'm sleeping," Dawn cried out as the bedroom door was pushed open.

"Well, you need to wake up if you want to come with me," Buffy said.

"Where are you going and why would I want to go with you?" Dawn asked as she put her pillow over her head.

"I'm going to the parade and you told me for a week that you wanted to go too."

"The parade was yesterday," Dawn proclaimed as she pulled off the pillow and sat up. "Don't you remember? One of the floats came loose from the car that was pulling it and crashed into a TV repair shop."

"That an interesting dream you had, but we don't have time for this. The parade starts at 7:00. And I would like to get there to get a good spot before it starts."

"I think you got hit too hard in the head last night by those vampires. You're starting to have memory problems."

"Dawn, I didn't even fight a single vampires last night. It was so quiet last night that I was in bed around midnight."

"That was Friday night when you were in bed around midnight."

"Dawn, last night was Friday. So will you please get dress?"

"You're definitely losing your mind and your memory, Big Sister. Because today is Sunday," Dawn said as she lay back down. "So if you don't mind I don't want to get up now."

"Fine; if you don't want to go to the parade then that is your loss, but I'm certainly not going to miss it."

"Have fun and close my door on your way out."

"Fine."

"Fine." Dawn mocked.

Two and a half hours later Buffy was again shaking Dawn awake while saying, "Dawn, wake up."

"I'm awake. I'm awake."

"How did you know that the float was going to come loose from the car and crash?"

"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked as she sat up.

"You told me what was going to happen at the parade today. How did you know that?"

"I must be having a bad dream because Saturday was yesterday. And I knew what happened at the parade because I was there… yesterday."

"Dawn, I just came from the parade and it happened just like you said. How did you know that?"

"I'm either having a bad dream or this day is some how repeating itself. Either way I would like for it to come to an end."

"Don't be ridiculous, Dawn, days can't repeat itself."

"Then I'm having a really-really bad dream."

"You're not dreaming. But perhaps you did have a psychic dream though. What else can you tell me about today?"

"Fine. I'll play along… at least until I wake up anyway. Which I hope will be soon." Buffy just grinned and slightly shook her head. "Some time after 9:00 A.M. Giles falls off a stepstool at the Magic Box and breaks his ankle. Around 10:00 A.M. while we were waiting at the hospital for Giles to get done a fight broke out in the cafeteria between two patients. You, Big Sister, broke up the fight. Xander loses a filling while eating lunch. Around 2:00 P.M. Mom gets a flat tire. Mom's spare was even flat so she had to walk to the nearest gas station to call for help…"

"Dawn, get dress. We are going to go see Giles. And if your dream is coming true we need to stop Giles from breaking his ankle. We will also check to make sure Mom's spare isn't flat."

"Fine," Dawn said as she was getting out of bed.

Minutes later, as Buffy and Dawn walked into the Magic Box, Buffy saw Giles stepping on a step stool with a duster. "Giles! Stop!" Buffy exclaimed.

Giles quickly came off of the stool while barely keeping his balance. Anya looked up from what she was doing. Giles said while giving Buffy an annoyed look, "Buffy, you shouldn't go around frightening people like that. I could have fallen and hurt myself."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," Buffy said. "I came here to stop you from falling off of that stool."

"Well, it seems to me that you caused me to fall off of this stool."

"No, let me explain. Dawn had a dream that a float at the parade was going to come loose and it did."

"I find this all fascinating, but what does Dawn's dream have to do with me."

"If you ask me, this event is the dream," Dawn said.

"Dawn please," Buffy said. Dawn just slightly smirked. "Giles, Dawn also dreamed that you broke your ankle after falling off that stool."

Giles sarcastically asked, "It wasn't after you came in and frighten me off the stool was it?"

"Giles, I'm serious. Dawn has a complete knowledge of the entire day. "

"Are you certain of this?" Giles asked.

"Well, the events haven't occurred yet, but she was right about the parade and you being up on a stool."

"Perhaps you need to get back on the stool," Anya said. "So if you fall off and break your ankle we would know for sure."

"Anya, your concern for my well being is touching," Giles sarcastically said.

"May I say something?" Dawn asked.

"Certainly," Giles said. "What do you have to say?"

"Buffy believes that I dreamt about being at the parade. It wasn't a dream. I wasn't there today, but I was there yesterday. I remember waking up yesterday going to the parade. I remember everything that I experienced yesterday up to the time that I went to bed at 11:00. Today should be Sunday."

"Dawn, today is Saturday," Giles said. "And there was no parade yesterday."

"Buffy. Giles, I barely remember my dreams," Dawn said. "But I have a perfect recollection of being at the parade and experiencing the rest of the day. The day that I experienced could not have been a dream."

"Dawn, I find it very unlikely, but the only other explanation is if Saturday is repeating itself," Giles said. "And if the day is repeating itself somehow, why are you the only one who is retaining the memory of it?"

"I don't know," Dawn said.

"I'll tell you what, Dawn; it might be a waste of time, but I'll research my books and see if they say anything about any time anomalies," Giles said.

"Can I help?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know what we'll be looking for, but certainly you can help," Giles said. He then pointed to a bookshelf. "The books we will be using are over there."

"I will help too," Buffy said. "But don't neglect anything in the books on psychic dreams. Dawn, there's still a possibility that you were dreaming."

Dawn said while sounding positive, "I know that I wasn't dreaming."

Because business was slow that morning, Anya also was able to help. When 11:00 A.M., rolled around Anya got bored and turned on the radio. The volume was somewhat loud.

"Anya, do you mind?" Giles asked as the news started. The story that came on caught Dawn's attention.

"Not at all, but if you mind, I will turn it off," Anya said.

"No. Wait," Dawn blurted out. "The reporter is talking about the fight at the hospital."

"… Billy Cranston was killed during the fight after James Spellings picked up a knife from a nearby table. James Spellings has been charged with second-degree murder…" the reporter announced over the radio.

"My god," Dawn said. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Yes," Dawn said. "Buffy was supposed to break up the fight while we were waiting for you to get done at the hospital."

"But I didn't go to the hospital," Giles said.

"That's because Dawn and I stop that from happening," Buffy said. "I didn't even give a thought about what might happen at the hospital if I wasn't there. My god; why didn't I think about stopping that fight?"

"Buffy, you shouldn't blame yourself," Giles said. "No one could have known that this would happen."

"Dawn, if Saturday is truly repeating itself and if it repeats again you must make sure that I'm at the hospital to stop that fight," Buffy said.

"But what if I don't remember, like everyone else?" Dawn asked.

"Well, you remember this time," Buffy said. "Let us hope that you'll remember the next time too."

"If there is a next time," Giles said. "We aren't finding anything in these books on time anomalies; if indeed that we are experiencing one. And if we are experiencing one, who's to say that the time anomaly won't correct itself."

"We still have a couple of books to look through, so should we continue to look?" Dawn asked as Willow opened the door to step into the shop.

"Hey. What's everyone doing?" Willow asked as she stepped in.

"Willow. You might be the one person who could shed some light on things," Giles said.

"What am I supposed to shed light on?" Willow asked.

"Willow, do you know of any incantation that could cause time to repeat itself?" Giles asked.

"You guys want time to repeat itself?" Willow asked.

"Willow, according to Dawn, time has already repeated itself," Buffy said. "We are trying to find the cause of it if we could."

"Time has repeated itself?" Willow questioned.

"We aren't certain of that yet," Giles said.

"I am," Dawn said. "Both yesterday and today has been a Saturday."

"Is that even possible?" Willow asked. "Wouldn't that go against some law, like the law of physics or something?"

"I was hoping you could tell us," Giles said.

"Oh, right," Willow said. "I don't know of any, but I will go home and see if I could find any incantation in any of my books. I'll be back as soon as I can." She then turned and left again.

As the hours passed, Willow along with Tera couldn't find any incantation on time repeating itself. Buffy made sure that her mother had a proper spare tire. Buffy also, with Dawn's knowledge of the day, made sure that all mishaps and incidents were avoided. Then after sunset Dawn pointed out the hot spots of the vampires' activities. When 10:30 P.M. rolled around Dawn went to bed and fell asleep hoping that she would wake up on Sunday morning.

At 6:00 A.M. a knock on the door woke Dawn up from her sound sleep. She quickly sat up as her bedroom door came opened and Buffy came walking in.

"Buffy, what day is today?" Dawn exclaimed.

"It's Saturday. Wow, you must be more excited about this parade then you let on all week."

"Oh god, it's happening again."

"What's happening again?"

"I will tell you on the way to the parade," Dawn said as she quickly got out of bed. "But right now we must hurry and get to the parade so we can stop a float from crashing into a TV repair shop."

"Dawn, what are you talking about?" Buffy asked as Dawn was quickly getting dressed.

Dawn proceeded to tell Buffy about the day repeating. Buffy had remained skeptical the entire way to the parade; however, she had allowed Dawn to prove herself. After they got to the parade the attempt to stop the float from crashing into the TV repair shop had failed. The failure; however, convinced Buffy that there was a possibility that Dawn was telling the truth.

As the day progressed, Buffy and Dawn stopped Giles from breaking his ankle along with stopping the fight that broke out at the hospital. As the day was coming to the end for another time, Dawn decided to take Giles suggestion by staying up. Buffy stayed up with Dawn. They talked for a while in Dawn's room, but after a while Dawn decided that she wanted to listen to the radio. Ten minutes after listening to the radio the news came on with a lead story of a fireman losing his life while battling a fire.

"Oh, my god," Dawn said. "I never knew about that."

"You said that you weren't up this late the passed two times," Buffy said. "So you wouldn't have known."

"Buffy, I'm hoping that time will repeat again so we can save that fireman; except I don't know who he was or where he was killed. And could there be more tragic events that I don't know about? If so, we need to stop those too. These tragic events might be the reason time is repeating…"

Buffy quickly said, "Slow down, Dawn. First of all the chances that the tragic events are causing time to repeat is very unlikely; however, we might be able to find out more about the fireman."

"How are we going to do that?" Dawn asked as Buffy got up and started out the bedroom door.

Buffy said as Dawn was only two steps behind her. "I will call the fire station and see what I can find out,"

Buffy walked to the telephone and started dialing.

"You know the number?"

"No. I'm calling information right now to get the number."

After getting the number and after dialing the fire station Buffy started to get the information; however, as Buffy was hanging up Dawn suddenly felt strange. Dawn then saw Buffy's movements slowing down as if life itself was coming to a complete halt. Dawn was then awakened from a knock on the door.

As the day progress for another time, Giles was able to get his hands on a police scanner for Dawn.

Buffy, along with Dawn and the rest of the Scooby gang stayed close to the scanner. Most of the day light hours remain quiet; however, after sunset, Buffy went out to stop the vampires' hot spots that Dawn had told her about. While Buffy went to each hot spot to save someone, Dawn and the others would hear about it over the scanners as an attempted assault crime.

As 10:30 P.M. came around the moment that Dawn and the gang were waiting on had arrived. A severe fire had broken out on the far side of Sunnydale. Giles quickly jotted down the address as it came over the scanner and within minutes Giles and Dawn were on their way to the fire.

Giles had taken a wrong turn and got caught up in some heavy traffic and when they arrived at the fire, they arrive at the time the roof collapsed.

"We're too late!" Dawn exclaimed.

"I'm really sorry," Giles said. "We might have made it if I didn't take that turn."

"Giles, the time repeating itself must not stop now. We need one more time."

"Dawn, we don't know what is causing this time anomaly. The time anomaly could end at any one of the repeating cycles. So I don't want you to be disappointed if you wake up in the morning and find yourself on Sunday morning."

"But something is causing this day to repeat itself. What if that something is getting repeated also? And so far, except for attempting to save the fireman, we haven't done anything to stop that something."

"Well maybe we should find out all we can on what cause the fire, and if the day begins again we need to do all we can to stop the fire."

"Giles, what if we stop the fire and the time keeps repeating itself?"

"You must keep convincing us of the fact that time is repeating itself and with everyone pulling together, we might stumble on a factoring clue. Until we get a clue on how it got started we are stuck in a vicious cycle."

Before the day had finished the cycle, Dawn had found out what had caused the fire.

As the day started again, Dawn again convinced the gang about the time anomaly and with the gang's help every incident and mishaps that Dawn knew about were either stopped or suppressed.

At 10:00 P.M. Giles and Dawn went to the apartment building and with Dawn's knowledge of what caused the fire that too was stopped.

Dawn and the rest of the gang sat patiently at the Magic Box listening closely to the radio while the remaining minutes of the day ticked away. Dawn kept a close watch on the clock after 11:30 P.M. and as the time got close to midnight Dawn crossed her fingers.

A minute from midnight Buffy grabbed hold of Dawn's hand and said, "If the time anomaly continues, we will find the cause of it. I promise."

"But how do we do that?" Dawn asked.

"We'll go door to door looking for any charms or anything else that could be considered supernatural if we have to," Buffy said. "We'll figure this out."

Xander gave Buffy a look before saying, "What I can't figure out is how Dawn knows that time is repeating and no one else does."

"We may never find that out," Giles said.

"Hey, everyone, look," Willow said. "It's midnight."

"Dawn, how do you feel?" Giles asked.

"I feel fine," Dawn said.

"Did we break the cycle?" Anya asked.

"Well, Dawn?" Giles asked. "Is the time anomaly over?"

"I believe so," Dawn said.

"Dawn, I should get you home," Buffy said as she stood up. "It's now past midnight and Mom is going to have a fit as it is."

"I may go home, but I'm not going to sleep," Dawn said as she got up. "I'm scared if I go to sleep I'll wake up and it will be Saturday again."

"Good night everyone," Buffy said as Giles was preoccupied with his own thoughts and didn't respond with the others.

"Giles. Giles!" Buffy exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Giles said. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying good night. But are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Buffy. I was just thinking that we haven't really discovered what caused the anomaly."

"I wonder if we will ever find out," Willow said.

"Well, we should worry about this tomorrow," Buffy said. "As I said, my mom is going to have a fit when Dawn and I get home."

Again everyone said their goodbyes and went their respective ways.

At 12:15 A.M, Sunday morning, Scott Cooper parked his car in his driveway. Before Scott was able to reach the front door, Joe swung open the door and ran outside while holding the amulet high in the air.

"Dad, look what I found," said Joe as Liz stood in the doorway while smiling. "Mom said it's a magical amulet."

Scott gazed at the amulet while saying, "That's so cool, Little Buddy. I may have to borrow it from you to protect me from those tough fires."

Joe smiled before giving Scott a hug.


	3. Chapter 3

Tuesday, October 9, 2013 in Dallas Texas, Buffy and Jack stepped into Depre's gym. They stopped at the door and gazed over the room. Seven men and three women were either punching a punching bag of some kind or lifting weights. Two other women, one wearing blue shorts and the other wearing white shorts, were sparring in the ring. The two women in the ring and one of the women who was practicing on the punching bag were within the age zone that Buffy was looking for. Three trainers were in the room while helping where they can. Roger, the owner, was in his office while going over cash receipts. Everyone in the gym had a muscular look about him or her to a varying degree. Three of the men looked like that they were heavy weight lifters while the women and the other men looked as if they lifted weight just to maintain a muscle tone.

A man in his early twenties who was punching a bag was the closest to the door. After Buffy gazed the room, she walked towards the man at the punching bag. Jack was a stepped behind Buffy and when they stepped up to the man Buffy said, "Excuse me. Can we talk for a moment?"

The man stopped striking the bag and faced Buffy. He glanced at Jack for only a second before questioning, "What can I do for you, officer?"

"We're not the police," Buffy said. "I am looking for Nichole White though. Is she here?"

The man was about to glanced at the ring, but stopped himself in mid motion. Jack realized to where he was about to gaze upon before the man said, "She's here. What do you want with her?"

"That's a personal matter," Jack said. "She is one of the two in the ring though, isn't she?"

"Maybe," the man said while trying to play it off.

"We are only here to offer her a fighting proposition; that's all," Buffy said before glancing towards the ring. "Is she the one wearing the blue shorts or the white ones?"

"She's the one in the white," The man said. "That's actually her trade mark. Her ring name is the Great White. The other one is Holly Bridget."

"So how are Nichole's fighting stats?" Jack questioned

"Thirty fights with no losses," the man said. "All KO's before the fourth round. Her last fight was a year and a half ago and that is due to the fact that no one wants to fight her."

"She just hasn't found the right opponent," Buffy said.

"Do you know the right opponent?" the man questioned.

"I believe I do," Buffy said.

"Yeah; who's that?" the man questioned.

"I'm not trying to be rude, but that's something I want to discuss with her about and not you," Buffy said.

"All right," the man said. Buffy slightly grinned before walking away.

Seconds later, Buffy and Jack stepped up next to the ring. Buffy watched the bout for a short time before calling out, "Nichole White." The two boxers stopped and looked at Buffy. "My name is Buffy Summers. The guy next to me is Jack Logan. Can you and I talk in private?"

Nichole stepped up to the edge of the rope before asking, "What about?"

Buffy glanced at Holly while saying, "About something I want to discuss in private."

"I think that was my cue to leave." Holly climbed down from the ring and as she was leaving Jack also walked away.

Nichole asked when Jack and Holly were a good distance away, "Is this private enough, Buffy Summers?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "Several years ago, you use to get dreams about fighting demons or monsters… perhaps you still do from time to time." Nichole's attention was captured immediately. "You have quick reflexes and a clandestine way about you. Even though you show a slight muscle tone, you are stronger then you look. In fact you are twice as strong if not more than the men in this gym."

"Other than the dreams that I use to get, anyone in this gym could have told you that stuff about me."

"That's probably true, but they didn't. I know the stuff that I do because your reflexes, clandestine movements and strength are all characteristics of a potential vampire slayer." Nichole looked at Buffy as if she had lost her mind as Buffy continued to say, "I know this because about sixteen years ago, I was the chosen one. Between ten and sixteen years ago, I was the slayer."

Nichole continued to give Buffy a look as if she was insane before saying, "This is some kind of a joke." She then gazed the room. "Which one of these numskulls hired you?"

"This is no joke, Nichole. You are too old to become the slayer, but your talents as a slayer is still useful to me."

"Okay, I'll play along. What do you what?"

"I am assembling a team to go after a certain vampire and you are a potential team member."

Nichole chuckled before saying, "You're good. You didn't smile when you said that."

Buffy grinned before saying, "The man near the door said that people are scared to fight you and that you haven't had a fight for over a year. Your opponents will be the undead, but I can get you back into the fight if you join me."

Nichole thought for a moment before questioning, "You said that you were a vampire slayer at one time?"

"Even though I'm semi-retired, I'm still considered the slayer."

"I'll tell you what. If you can defeat me in the ring then I'll join your group."

Buffy grinned before asking in a cocky manner, "Is that all I have to do?"

"Climb up here if you think it's that easy." Nichole barely had gotten the words out when Buffy was putting her cell phone and loose items down so that she could climb into the ring. Everyone noticed as Buffy climbed in under the ropes. Nichole gestured for Holly to return and as Holly stepped up, she told her, "Give Buffy your gloves."

"You can't be serious," Holly said as Jack was stepping up. "You'll slaughter her."

Before Nichole could answer, Buffy said with confidence, "Pick a round and that will be the round, Nichole will go down in."

"Lady, Nichole has thirty wins and no losses," Holly said.

"I actually have more wins then that," Buffy said. "I do have loses too, but I have always won the rematch."

"Give her the glove, Holly," Nichole said.

"Fine, but Roger is going to have a fit if he comes out of his office and sees this," Holly said as she took off the gloves. She then handed them to Buffy.

"Well, I haven't pissed off Roger for over a week," Nichole said as Buffy was putting on the glove "I'm actually over do."

"Yeah, well, you will be topping yourself this time," Holly said. "He just might throw you out of here for this one."

"Just let me worry about that," Nichole said. Holly just gestured that she was backing down with her argument.

Within seconds Buffy and Nichole had gestured that they were ready to begin. They then stepped towards each other to box.

On an infrequently used road on the outskirts of New Orleans, Dean Winchester was driving his Impala away from a main highway. His brother Sam was in the passenger's seat while reading an article from a ten-year-old newspaper that had come across their sights.

Sam glanced up at Dean before saying, "Okay, I read the exact article you did, and I still think that you are making a leap here."

"You don't think that it's weird that every twenty years or so, the current owner of that house transfers ownership of the house to a complete stranger who is around the age of twenty just before the owner becomes a bedridden-incoherent stroke victim?"

"Okay, fine, it's weird, but there's nothing to suggest that there's any demonic going on."

Before Dean was able to respond his cell phone rang. After answering his phone and hearing who was calling, he said, "Hey, Ellen, what's up?"

"I just got a phone call from a Margaret Lombardi from St. Louis. She was looking for your dad and she knew to call here."

"Whatever this Margaret Lombardi woman wanted I'm certain that you told her that my dad is dead." Sam gave his brother a curious look.

"I did, but the name of the person who she was speaking in behalf on had caught my attention. I'm certain that the name will catch your attention as well… at least it should anyway."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Buffy Summers had seen that Margaret's son was wearing the protective talisman that your father had given him about fifteen years ago and she wants one just like it. She…"

"Wait; did I just hear you say Buffy Summers," Dean quickly questioned as he glanced at Sam.

Sam mouthed out the questioned in disbelief, "Buffy Summers?"

"I thought that name would catch your attention," Ellen said. "Buffy is looking to get a protective talisman against a possessor demon and she's willing to pay a good sum of money for it."

"Buffy Summers is a living legend among demon hunters for being a great hunter. She should know where to find any talisman she wants. I don't buy it. If that was Buffy who was asking for a talisman, it was for another purpose than getting her hands on one."

Dean heard the smugness in Ellen's voice as she asked, "Do you want to call her and find out?"

"You got her number?" Dean quickly questioned.

"I do; area code and all." Ellen then asked while already knowing the answer. "Do you want it?"

"Of course I want it." Dean then glanced at Sam. "I'll have Sammy write it down as you tell it to me." Sam quickly opened the glove box for a pen. "Go." Just before Sam was able to get set with the pen, Dean spoke out the numbers one by one while getting them from Ellen. When Sam was finished he showed Dean what he wrote down. "Okay, Ellen, to make sure the number was written down correctly, let me read back to you to what Sammy had written." He then read aloud what Sam had jotted down.

After hearing the number, Ellen confirmed, "That's it. And hey, if that is the legendary Buffy Summers, see what you can find out about what actually happened in Sunnydale."

"Ellen, that is one of many things that I would like to find out," Dean pointed out. "Thanks for the number. Bye." After hanging up the phone, he held out the phone for Sam to take. "Call Buffy Summers."

"If this number belongs to Buffy, we are abandoning this hunt… which might not be a hunt anyway."

"Just call the number."

At Depre's gym, Nichole was fighting her toughest bout that she has ever fought. She and Buffy had exchanged heavy blows from each other that would put down any other opponent. They were boxing for a short time before Roger left his office to investigate the cheering from the spectators.

When Roger saw what was going on, he ran to ringside while shouting, "Stop this! Nichole, stop!"

Buffy and Nichole continued the bout while as if no one was watching or yelling at them. Nichole then made a move that left herself exposed for only a brief moment. That brief moment was all Buffy needed. When Buffy seized the opportunity that was presented to her, Nichole was hit hard and dropped like a rock on the canvas. Roger was stunned to see Nichole going down the way she did.

Nichole moved quickly and got to a one knee kneeling position. Buffy was preparing herself for Nichole to get back on her feet; however, Nichole threw up one arm and said, "You have proven yourself to me, Buffy Summers. We could continue this, but I see no need to."

Buffy dropped her guard and when she backed away, Nichole got back on her feet.

When Roger saw that the match was over, he shouted out, "God damn it, Nichole! Do you know that I could lose my operating license and insurance for that match if either one of you had gotten hurt?" Buffy remained quiet as she took off her gloves.

"You're right, Roger and I'm sorry," Nichole said while trying to sound sincere.

"No-no; apologizing isn't enough this time," Roger exclaimed as Nichole was taking off her gloves. "You're through here! You got five minutes to get your shit out of the locker room and to get the hell out."

"Roger, believe it or not, I would be leaving today even if you didn't kick me out," Nichole said in somewhat of a smug manner. She glanced at Buffy before continuing. "I have been given an offer to fight and I'm going to take it."

"Good and once you leave, you and your friend are not allowed back in here either." Roger didn't wait for a response as he turned and stormed away.

As Buffy and Nichole were leaving the ring, Nichole said, "I've never seen him this pissed off before."

Buffy was reaching for her belongings and was about ready to respond to what Nichole had said when her cell phone rang. Buffy picked up her cell phone from the floor and when she didn't recognize the number, she answered with a simple, "Hello."

"Hello; am I speaking with Buffy Summer?" a voice came over the phone.

"You are. Who is this?" Buffy asked as she saw Jack stepping closer.

"Oh… ah, I'm Sam Winchester…"

Before anything else was said, Buffy heard another male voice saying, "Sam, give me the phone."

"Dean, I'm perfectly able to handle this," Buffy heard just before she heard the two bickering of who will be the one to talk.

Jack saw the confused expression on Buffy's face and asked, "What's going on?"

"I don't know yet," Buffy responded.

"Well, who are you talking to?" Jack asked.

"They haven't settled that yet," Buffy said.

Nichole gave Buffy a curious look as Jack asked, "What do you mean?"

Before Buffy was able to respond, a voice came across the phone, "Buffy Summers, hi, I'm Dean… Sam's brother." Buffy motioned Jack to wait. "The better looking one of us actually."

Jack and Nichole were watching the curious expression that came across Buffy's face as Buffy heard Sam's voice saying, "Give me a break."

Buffy then heard Dean saying, "Anyway, I understand that you are interested in getting your hands on a talisman."

"And where did you hear that?" Buffy questioned.

"Someone contacted a friend to get a message to my dad. Since my dad is dead that message came to me."

"What was your dad's name?"

"John; John Winchester. Anyway, I would really like to know if you are the very same Buffy Summers from Sunnydale California."

"You heard of me?" Buffy questioned in a surprised manner.

"I have and if the rumors I've heard about you are true then I can't help to think that a talisman is not really what you are after."

"What kind of rumors of me have you heard?" Buffy questioned.

"Rumors of you being triumphal over powerful demons."

Buffy slightly grinned before saying, "All true." Jack and Nichole looked at each other in a curious manner and shrugged. "So how triumphal are you over demons."

"Well, Sammy and I are still here, so we're doing something right."

"So you and your brother are hunters?"

"We are. So tell me. Are you really after a talisman?"

"No; what I'm after is to offer a hunter or two hunters a job, but I can only say what this job is in person. Are you interested in meeting with me?"

"Yeah; sure. Where are you?"

"Most likely it will be easier for me to come to you. So where are you?"

"We're less than forty miles outside New Orleans."

Buffy looked at Jack in an inquisitive manner as she told Dean, "If you have no objection, I'll meet you at the New Orleans airport in about…"

Jack knew what Buffy wanted. He shrugged while saying in an unconfident tone, "An hour."

"An hour or two," Buffy continued to say to Dean. "I have your number on my phone so I'll call you once we arrive."

"I'll be looking forward for your call. Bye."

"Bye,"

As Buffy was putting her phone away, Jack questioned, "So, we're now off to New Orleans?"

"We are…" Buffy was only able to get out before Roger began shouting again.

"Nichole, why in hell are you and Blondie still here!" Buffy turned to look and saw that Roger was red in the face. "If you're not gone in two minutes, I'm calling the police."

"We're just leaving," Nichole responded. She then faced Holly. "I'll call you, Holly, and let you know where to send my stuff."

Holly nodded while saying, "Good idea. You better get out of here, before Roger has a stroke or something."

Roger just stared harshly at Nichole and Buffy as those two and Jack were leaving the gym.

Once they got outside, Nichole said, "So tell me more about what we are going to do."

"Until we get back to Washington D.C., and you sign a nondisclosure agreement we can't really tell you anything," Jack said. He then pointed towards a car. "There's the car."

"What I told you in there about us going after a certain vampire is true and this vampire hunt is being sponsored by the U.S. government," Buffy said. "Therefore, we have to go by their rules."

"Are we going to Washington D.C. now?" Nichole asked as they were approaching the car.

"No, we still have six more women and the Winchester brothers to talk to, to see if any of them will join us," Buffy said. "Our first stop from here will be in New Orleans to meet the Winchester brothers."

Everyone then climbed into the car. Once they were comfortable in their seats, Nichole questioned, "So, Buffy, you were the vampire slayer ten years ago."

"I was," Buffy said as Jack started the car. "Tabitha Foxworthy is the present slayer. Because of her being sixteen, I can't recruit her for this mission."

As Jack was driving away, Nichole asked, "What's it like to be a slayer."

During the ride to the airport, Buffy told Nichole what it was like to be the slayer. Buffy had even told her in detail of a few battles of her fighting vampires and demons.

In rural area outside Los Angeles, California, Agent Benjamin (Ben) Alistair of the TEC stepped into a building that was once a firehouse; however, for the past three years it was the latest headquarters for Angel's detective agency. The first thing he noticed was an unattended reception counter. As he gazed the room, he noticed that the décor of the establishment was something out of the medieval times; swords, axes, chains, crossbows and dusty books decorated the room.

After Ben took a moment to gaze the room, he called out, "Hello! Anyone here!" Seconds later, he was about to yell again when a dark haired woman entered the room. The unusual object that she carried had caught his eye. "Hi… Angel?"

"Angel is a nocturnal person. You will only see him at night. I'm Faith. And you are?"

He gestured towards himself while acting a little taken back to have been asked his name. Faith gave him a sarcastic look and slightly nodded. "Oh, ah, I'm Benjamin… Ben. Ben Alistair."

"So what brings you here, Benjamin-Ben-Ben Alistair?" Faith asked while mocking him.

"It's just Ben Alistair." When Faith grinned and nodded in a matter as if she was holding her sarcastic tongue, Ben mumbled, "And you knew that."

"Ben, I'm not a mind reader so before I can help you, you'll have to tell me why you're here."

"Why I'm here?" Ben quietly mocked. Faith gave him a curious look. "Oh, ah, I'm here to talk to Angel. I've heard good things about him and…"

A seventeen-year-old girl dashed in while blurting out, "Is this the private investigating agency that kills demons?"

Faith glanced at Ben in an uncomfortable manner before saying, "We are the detective agency that deals with bizarre and the unusual cases. Some of our clients have walked in while talking as if there were a demon chasing them."

"I need someone who kills demons," the girl insisted. "If you don't kill demons then I'm in the wrong place." The girl turned to leave.

Faith quickly put down the object that she was carrying on the reception counter. A dark reddish color fluid oozed out from the cracks and onto the edge of the counter. Before the girl was able to get too far, Faith blurted out, "We might be able to help you. What's your name?"

The girl stopped walking and turned around before saying, "It's Alexis Wilson"

"Nice to meet you, Alexis. I'm Faith." Alexis glanced at Ben before Faith continued to say, "He's Ben. He doesn't work here though. He's someone else who came in for some kind of assistance, but he hasn't said yet to what it is."

"Do you kill demons or not?" Alexis asked.

Faith gave Ben a glanced as if she didn't want to answer while being in his presence. Ben saw the look and said, "Hearing that this agency kills demons is why I'm even here. Have you been attack by a demon, Alexis?"

"God no," Alexis quickly said as she stepped towards the counter.

"But there is a demon that you what killed?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Alexis said as she stood next to the object on the counter.

"Ben, you don't work here," Faith quickly pointed out.

"That's actually why I'm here to talk to Angel about," Ben said. "I was hoping to get a job hunting demons with this agency."

Faith gave Ben a skeptical look before saying, "Hold that thought." She then refocused on the girl. "Alexis, what kind of demon is it?"

"I don't know," Alexis said. "Is that important?"

"We do hunt demons here and in order to kill one, we'll need to know what kind it is." Faith then continued to say while looking at Ben. "As in we, I mean this agency." When Ben politely grinned, Faith refaced Alexis. "What does this demon look like?"

"Human at the moment, but that may change any day," Alexis said.

"Are you certain that this person is even a demon?" Ben asked.

"I have an excellent source," Alexis said. "I 'm certain."

"We… this agency won't kill anyone until we are certain that we are dealing with a demon and the demon is threatening," Faith said.

Alexis quickly questioned in somewhat of a stunned manner, "There are non-threatening demons?"

"Some of our clients are non-threatening demons," Faith said. Ben just gave Faith a curious look.

"Wow; I wouldn't have imagined," Alexis said.

"Do you know where we can find this person who you believe to be a demon?" Faith asked.

"Absolutely," Alexis said. "I am the demon. I want you to kill me."

Ben and Faith were taken back by Alexis' last statement. Faith quickly recovered from being stunned and asked, "Alexis, why do you think that you're a demon?"

"I over heard my mom telling my aunt that she will find out any day now if I'm going to take after my biological father and show my demon half," Alexis said.

"Your mom might have been talking metaphorically," Ben said. "I know my ex-wife thinks of me as being a demon." Faith just gave him a curious glance.

"I heard her say when I reached maturity my demon side could emerge," Alexis said.

"Have you talked about this with your mother?" Faith asked.

"No," Alexis said.

"Alexis, Ben might have a point about your mom speaking metaphorically," Faith said. "In case you did misunderstood your mother, you really should discuss it with her before doing anything drastic."

"Just remember that I came to you," Alexis said. "So if I suddenly go on an uncontrollable killing spree it won't be my fault."

"I really can't see you going on a…" Ben was only able to get out just before Alexis came into contact with the liquid on the counter.

Alexis had shaped-shifted into a puff demon for only a second. Faith saw the terrified expression in Ben's face as if he had never seen a demon before. Alexis saw the look too and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Alexis, it seems that your suspicions were right," Faith said as she was noticing the fluid that Alexis had come into contact with. "You are a shape-shifting demon. In fact, to be more precise, you are an echo demon."

Alexis had a confused look on her face before questioning, "Why do you think that?"

"The fluid that dripped on the counter is blood from a puff demon," Faith said. "You had momentarily changed into a puff demon just as you touched the blood."

"I did?" Alexis asked.

"You did," Faith said.

"Can you tell me about an echo demon?" Alexis asked.

"An echo-demon is a demon that changes shape by mimicking the creature's appearance when the blood or fresh flesh of that creature is consumed," Faith began. "Once the blood or flesh has been digested the echo-demon can no longer change into or maintain the appearance of the creature. However, an echo-demon such as you can mimic the creature's appearance for brief a moment if you come into contact with the creature's blood."

"Am I a threatening demon?" Alexis asked.

"Your mother is human, right?" Faith questioned. Alexis just nodded. "Then you're not threatening unless you choose to be."

"What does my mom being human have to do with anything?" Alexis questioned.

"The female parent of an echo-demon is what governs the echo-demon's natural appearance and temperament," Faith said. "Since your mother is human, your wants, needs and desires are also human. So you don't have to die… unless you choose to be evil."

"If Alexis would come into contact with my blood then she would shape-shift to look like me for a brief moment?" Ben questioned.

"She would shape-shift, but only into what you would look like if you were born a girl," Faith said.

"So I can't switch gender?" Alexis asked.

"You can't switch genders," Faith confirmed.

"I won't change into a cow if I eat a hamburger will I?" Alexia questioned.

"Well cooked meet will keep you from turning into what you are eating," Faith said. "If you're cooking or handling bloody raw meet then wear gloves."

"Is there anything else I need to know about my demon side?" Alexis asked.

"Just that there are demon hunters who think that all demons are bad, so be careful out there," Faith said.

Alexis grinned before saying, "I will. Oh, and thanks for your help."

"You're welcome," Faith said.

"Bye," Alexis said.

Faith waved as Ben said, "Bye."

Faith waited until Alexis had left before asking, "Why are you here, Benjamin Alistair?"

"I told you. I'm looking for a job."

Faith crossed her arms while saying, "The moment you saw Alexis shape-shifting was the moment you began believing in demons. So why don't we just cut the bullshit right now and you tell me why you are here." Faith saw Ben searching his thoughts for an explanation. "I know demons who can reach into your mind and pluck the reason why you are here out and if you don't give me a convincing explanation in the next two seconds, I will call for one of those demons."

Ben stared at Faith for a moment while trying to figure out if she was bluffing. After deciding that she wasn't bluffing, he said, "I thought it was some joke, but I was assigned here to make sure that Angel, the good vampire doesn't become Angelus, the bad vampire. After seeing what I did, I know longer think that my assignment is a joke and in an attempt to get in here, I was given a tip guide on how to gain Angel's trust."

"Who assigned you to watch Angel?"

"That is classified."

"Benjamin Alistair, you are on my playground and while you're here, nothing is classified. Now start talking or I will call someone to come and pluck that information from your head."

"All I can tell you is that I'm a U.S. government agent."

"Why would the government be worried about Angel turning into Angelus?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Who gave you the tip guide on gaining Angel's trust?"

"The tip guide came from my superior officer."

"Yeah, but someone who Angel knows and trusts had to…" Faith then closed her eyes as she thought of only one name. "Buffy Summers." She reopened her eye while saying, "Buffy, what in hell are you mixed up into now?"

As Faith moved towards the phone, Ben asked, "Who is Buffy Summers?"

"That, Benjamin, is a long story," Faith said before picking up the phone and dialing it.

At the Dallas airport, Buffy, Jack and Nichole were several steps from the plane when Buffy's cell phone rang. After seeing who was calling, Buffy answered with "Hey, Faith, I'm a little preoccupied right now; so can I call you back?"

"What in hell you're doing to preoccupy your time is why I'm calling," Faith spouted out.

Buffy stopped walking and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"B, there's a government agent a few steps from me who was assigned to watch Angel and make sure that Angel doesn't become Angelus." Buffy gave Jack a slightly worried look. "Do you want to tell me what in hell is going on?"

Jack had seen the look that Buffy had given him and overlapped Faith's word with "What's going on?"

"Faith, hold on for a minute," Buffy said. She then tried to cover up the receiver as best she could to keep Faith from hearing. "The agent assigned to watch Angel was found out within a very short time. Faith is now on the phone and insists to be told what's going on."

"You can't tell her," Jack insisted.

"Faith knows that there's something going on and as resourceful she is, she will find out what's going on in less than forty-eight hours anyway," Buffy assured him. "Plus Faith can help to gather the four-one-one on the demons in Washington D.C."

"Fine, tell her what you need to, but if something goes wrong with this, you're taking the heat," Jack said. "Nichole, you and I will be in the plane." He and the confused Nichole continued to the plane.

Once Jack and Nichole were out of earshot, Buffy got back on the phone and said, "A Dr. Julius Briers was turned into a vampire last night and I joined forces with the government to stop him."

"Who's Dr. Julius Briers?" Faith saw that her question to Buffy struck a nerve with Ben.

"This is the top-secret part and I'm actually breaking my nondisclosure agreement," Buffy began. "Dr. Julius Briers is one of the co-founding scientists who created a time traveling device few years ago…"

"Whoa, a time traveling device?" Faith mocked in disbelief. When Ben turned away as if he was scared of the subject Faith knew that Buffy was speaking the truth.

"I know how it sounds, but it's true," Buffy assured Faith. "Dr. Julius Briers stole a newly designed time traveling device that was supposed to have replaced the existing one and disappeared with it."

"So now, you and Tabitha are going into the past to stop a time traveling vampire?" Faith questioned.

"Tabitha is staying in New Sunnydale. Perhaps you can check up on her from time to time while I'm away."

"I know you're good, B, but you can't seriously be going to pursue Dr. Briers into the past alone."

"I won't be alone. I'm assembling a team of once potential slayers. I recruited one of them already."

"It sounds as though you are on top of things, but I'm still confused as to why the government is interested in Angel remaining Angel."

"Xander's big mouth had alerted the government to Angel and now the government is scared that Dr. Julius Briers would learn of Angelus and try to recruit him."

Faith stared at Ben while saying, "Things are making sense to me now."

"Now that you're updated on what's happening, I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"I need all the four-one-one that you can gather for me about where the demons are in Washington D.C."

"I'll do what I can for you."

"Oh and you might want to keep quiet about this to Angel."

"Bye, B." As Faith hung up the phone, she commented to Ben, "So you and your friends are scared that Dr. Briers will recruit Angelus."

"What you were told was top-secret and Buffy Summers… whoever she is, could be in serious trouble for telling you," Ben said.

"By Buffy telling me what she did, is the only reason I'm going to allow you to complete your assignment."

Ben gave Faith a confused look before questioning, "You are going to allow me to stay?"

"That's right. Angel trusts my judgment so he won't have a problem if I hire you. Since you know nothing of demons, we need to change that so you are to come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To get the information that Buffy wants and to familiar you with demons at the same time."

Ben gave Faith a curious look before asking, "Will there be a chance that I'll regret this assignment?"

"Most definitely, but just do what I say and you just might live to see the end of this assignment." Faith then turned towards the door and started walking.

"One day I hope to become a timecop," Ben mumbled loud enough to be heard as he followed Faith. "That's the only reason I haven't quit this job already." Faith just glanced back at him and shook her head with a slight grin on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

Fifteen minutes after leaving Angel Investigation, Faith led Ben down a good flight of steps to the door of a basement type establishment that set below a three-story commercial building of various businesses.

Faith had reared back to knock when Ben asked, "What is this place?"

Faith knocked on the door next to a small peep-door, before answering, "It's a club where demons go."

"This is a nightclub for demons?" Ben questioned as the peep-door came opened. Ben saw a man's eyes glancing at Faith and him just for a moment before the peep-door closed again. "Are we getting in?

Before Faith had a chance to respond, the door opened and a man said, "Welcome, Faith." He then stiffed the air towards Ben. "Is this human with you?"

"He is Rocky," Faith said. "His name's Ben"

Rocky backed up and said, "Welcome."

As Ben stepped in behind Faith, Ben whispered to Faith, "Is Rocky a demon?"

Rocky heard Ben and said, "I'm actually a werewolf."

"A werewolf?" Ben mocked in surprised manner.

"Ben, keep your mouth shut and if you don't stop being surprised by everything you see and hear, you're not going to get out of here alive," Faith warned.

When Ben just gave Faith the thumbs up sign, Faith slightly shook her head and walked deeper into the club. Ben followed her up to the bartending demon that was washing beer mugs.

The bartender paused at what he was doing and questioned, "Who are you tracking down this time, Faith."

"No one this time," Faith said. "A friend of mine is looking to tour Washington D.C. and she wants to know where the hangouts are at."

"Couldn't you ask something more simple, like where Kil… where Latta is at."

Faith caught the slip-up and firmly asked "Philstein, where's Kilo?"

Philstein sighed for his mistake before saying, "He's in that burned out school house two miles away."

"Angel and I were there three weeks ago while fighting a demon; he isn't there," Faith claimed.

"You mean he wasn't there," Philstein pointed out.

Faith looked Philstein in the eyes while saying, "The only thing that is keeping me from slaying you, is the fact that you help me out quite a bit. I owe you a few favors and now you can deduct one of those favors for me not killing you right now. I'm going after Kilo and if I find out that you warned him before I get there, I will come back and kill you regardless as to how many favors I owe you. Oh and I will be back anyway for that information that I'm looking for."

"I'll try to have it when you get back," Phistein timidly said.

"Come on, Ben," Faith said. Ben just followed without saying a word.

Ben didn't speak until he was on the street while walking towards Faith's SUV and then he asked, "Who's Kilo?"

"He's a vampire who thought that he and his seventeen followers could come in to town and take over. This happened about one year ago. They did pose somewhat of a challenge, but now, the only one left of Kilo's group is Kilo."

As Faith and Ben were approaching the SUV, Ben asked, "Where are we going now?"

Faith gave Ben a curious look before questioning, "Haven't you been listening?"

"I have," Ben claimed. "But you aren't going after Kilo this very second, are you?"

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" Faith questioned while stepping at the SUV.

"It's too dangerous for you to go alone," Ben commented.

Faith slightly chuckled before saying, "Ben, I'm a slayer. I've been chasing after and killing vampires for more than ten years. I know what I'm doing. Besides I have bait with me."

"What kind of bait?"

Faith shook her head before saying, "Never mind; it was a poor joke anyway." She then went to get into the vehicle.

Ben just stared at her in a confused manner for a second before getting into the passenger seat. In finally dawned on Ben as to what Faith had meant as she started the vehicle. Just as Faith was putting the SUV into drive, Ben blurted out, "I'm not going to be used as bait."

Faith grinned before saying, "Relax; as I said, it was a joke. In fact, I don't want you to move from your seat after we get to school."

"I'm not arguing with you there."

"Good. You'll be one less thing I have to worry about."

Minutes later, Faith was walking through the halls of the abandon elementary school building. Ben was in the SUV while gazing over the playground. He was lost in his thoughts for a few minutes before he was pulled back to reality when he thought he saw his sister's son, Ephram. Ephram had disappeared with no trace last year at the age of eight. Ben stared at the boy for a second in disbelief before he opened his door and yelled out, "Ephram! Ephram, over here!" The boy glanced at him before running towards the school building. Ben went to catch up with the boy while hollering his nephew's name.

Ben had followed the boy into the school building from a door next to the playground. He immediately saw the boy turned a corning at an intersecting hall. As he reached the intersection, he again watched the boy turned another corner. He followed the boy through several hallways and stairwells while yelling for the boy to stop.

When Faith heard Ben hollering out, she stopped her search for Kilo and went looking for Ben. Faith used Ben's intermitting holler to locate him and once she had him in her sight, she blurted out, "Benjamin Alistair, have you completely lost your mind!" Ben turned to face her with a confused expression on his face. "You are going to get us both killed if you don't shut the hell up."

"My nine-year-old nephew is here." Ben then pointed down the hall while continuing to say, "He went that way. I got to find him."

Faith gave him a curious looked before questioning, "Why would your nephew be here?"

"I don't know, but he's here. I've seen him. After a year of him being missing, my sister can now stop worrying. I have to catch up to him."

"Son of a bitch!" Faith blurted out while realizing what was going on. As Ben turned to dash down the hall, Faith quickly got in front of him to block his way. "Benjamin, stop! What you are seeing is not your nephew."

"I know what I saw," Ben claimed. "So stand aside."

"Stop and reason this out, Ben… or I will stop you and drag your ass out."

"What's there to reason out?" Ben quickly questioned.

"Tell me what you were doing when you first saw what you think is your nephew."

"I was thinking of the times when I would pick up my nephew from school and how I would allow him to play in the school's playground before we had to leave. Now he's here and you are holding me up on catching up with him."

Ben again attempted to step around Faith. Faith grabbed him before he could get away while saying, "Damn it, Ben; now listen to me! What you are seeing is a hallucination created by manifest demon."

"A manifest demon?" Ben mocked in disbelief.

"Yes; the deaths and hallucinations brought on by the manifest demon is why this school is closed. We thought we had eliminated this thing a few weeks ago, but apparently we missed."

"I don't know anything of a manifest demon…" Ben was only able to get out.

Faith interrupted with, "Listen to me! This type of demon will get into your head and read your thoughts. He will create any hallucination necessary to lure you to him. Now we both have to leave here immediately and let's hope that it's not too late."

"Too late? Too late for what? Ben questioned.

"For this thing to know everything that we both know." Faith then pointed in the direction of an exit. "Now we have to get out while we still have a chance,—" The manifest demon stood just passed the next turned deeper into the school building with a smile on its face. "—so go."

Ben stared at Faith in a skeptical manner for a moment before complying. "I'll never forgive you if that was Ephram."

"I told you earlier, you're now on my playground," Faith said as she and Ben were moving quickly away from the manifest demon while making their way towards the exit. "On this playground, you can no longer trust what you see and hear."

Within a short time they were leaving the building. Faith immediately got out her cell phone and before she had a chance to dial, Ben questioned, "Who are you calling?"

"Buffy; she has to know that her hunt for Dr. Briers might have gotten a lot more complicated," Faith said as she pressed the buttons.

"What do you mean?"

"If that demon plucked out the knowledge of a time machine from our heads, your agency won't be the only one looking for Dr. Briers," Faith said as Buffy's phone went straight into voice mail. "Shit! Buffy's phone is off." She then waited to leave a message. "B, give me a call as soon as you get this; it's very important."

As Faith put her phone away, Ben asked, "Now what?"

"Now we'll return to headquarters," Faith said as they approach the SUV.

Several minutes later, at the New Orleans' airport, Buffy had called Dean after landing and found out that Dean was parked on the third level of the airport's parking garage. Buffy had also noticed that she had a message on her phone. As Buffy, Jack and Nichole were making their way to Dean's Impala, Buffy listened to the message that Faith had left for her.

When Jack saw the curious expression on Buffy's face, he asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Probably not," Buffy said. "Faith just wants me to call her. I'll call her once we meet with the Winchester brothers."

A short time later, Jack spotted the Impala with two men in the front seat. Dean saw them as they approached and stepped out of the car followed by Sam.

While Buffy, Jack and Nichole were a few feet away, Dean asked, "Buffy?"

"That's me," she said. She then pointed out the others. "This is Jack Logan and Nicholas White."

"I'm Dean Winchester and this is my brother Sam."

"So you have a job for us?" Sam asked.

"That's Sammy for you," Dean said. "He always gets down to business."

"Well, for the twenty-four hours I really don't have the time for small talk anyway," Buffy said. "So the job is, we are chasing after a vampire. This vampire had stolen a top-secret government device and we have to find him as quick as we can before he can do major harm with it. We will be operating out Washington D.C. and I can't say anymore until we get to Washington D.C."

"Yeah, about me and Sam going to Washington D.C. to work with the government," Dean began. Buffy gave him an inquisitive look. "I'm a wanted man for suspicion of murdering eight people in eight different states. Sam is wanted for a few murders as well."

"Are you guilty of killing anyone?" Jack questioned.

"We are guilty of killing demons," Dean said. "Unfortunately for us, some demons can take on human form and we don't confuse humans with demons."

"Well, in spite of what I believed less than twenty-four hours ago, demons obviously exist so if you can help us recover this device from that vampire, my superiors should be able to expunge all those warrants against you two," Jack said.

"I would like two hunters on my team as I go after this vampire," Buffy said. "Will you two join me?"

"What kind of device did this vampire steal?" Sam asked.

"We can't answer that until we get to Washington D.C. and everyone signs a nondisclosure agreement," Jack said.

"Will you join me?" Buffy asked.

"What the hell," Dean said. "I'm in."

"You can count on me as well," Sam said.

"Good," Buffy said. "There are six more women who I need to talk to about joining us as well. So if you two follow us, we'll show you the way to the plane."

"You want me to leave my car?" Dean quickly questioned.

"Unless that car has a feature I don't know about or some magical powers, you will never stay up with us," Buffy said.

"I don't want to abandon it in an airport garage either," Dean said.

Jack pulled out his cell phone while saying, "I'll have it towed to TEC headquarters."

"What does TEC stand for?" Sam questioned.

"I'll tell you just after you signed a nondisclosure agreement," Jack said just before the party he was dialing picked up. Jack then proceeded to order the tow truck for Dean's car. Once the tow truck was ordered and Dean was satisfied that his car wasn't going to be left behind, everyone walked away from the car.

They were only a few feet from the car when Buffy pulled out her phone while saying, "I'll call Faith and see what she wanted." She then dialed the phone. She paused for only a second before speaking again.

As Buffy was listening to what Faith had to say, Jack watched Buffy's expression changed quickly to a disconcerting one. When Buffy was hanging up, he asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

Instead of answering Jack's question, she face Nichole while saying, "Nichole, show Dean and Sam to the plane. I need to talk to Jack alone for a second."

Everyone gave Buffy a curious look before Nichole said, "Sure. Sam; Dean, come with me."

Jack continued to give Buffy a curious look while Nichole, Dean and Sam walked away. Once they were out of earshot, Jack asked, "What's going on?"

"Faith and that TEC agent had crossed paths with a manifest demon while she was hunting down her own vampire," Buffy said. "A manifest demon gets its name from the hallucinations it creates and the hallucination is of something or someone from the victim's past; usually of a lost love one or a lost pet."

"Okay; what does that have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"A manifest demon obtains a life time of knowledge of someone in a very short time," Buffy said. "It's possible that it had learned about Dr. Briers and the stolen time traveling device and if it does know, vampires might not be the only demons that get sent into the past."

"Great," Jack blurted out sarcastically. "If it wasn't for the safeguards in place to prevent time violations by members at the TEC, I would risk spending years in prison by going back to yesterday and stop this before it starts."

"Well, we should get going," Buffy said. "Our preparation time might have drastically decreased."

As they began walking, Jack questioned, "Is this a typical day in a life of a slayer?"

"No; actually some days are harder," Buffy casually said.

"And you sound serious."

Buffy gave him a smug grinned as if to say, "I am."

Jack acknowledged the look with a nervous grin before questioning, "So, our next stop is New Mexico?"

"Yep; the next potential team member is Margaret Green."

Two hours later, as Buffy and her group were driving up to Margaret's apartment building in their rented van, they saw three police cars with their emergency lights going parked in front of it. A small group of spectators were forming behind a police rope.

Before Jack had time to park, Dean said, "Park a half of a block away. Sam and I will stay in the van as everyone else goes and find out what's going on."

Jack drove passed the police cars without verbally responding to Dean's request. He then parked in the first available spot away from the scene.

By the time Buffy, Jack and Nichole were stepping up to the spectators a woman in her early twenties was being escorted out while in handcuffs.

Buffy gazed at the woman in a curious manner for only a moment before asking one of the spectators, "Would you know of a Margaret Green?"

"I sure do," he said. "She's the one the cops are hauling away. She killed her fiancé for cheating."

Buffy politely grinned while saying "Thanks for the information." She then whispered to Jack. "Well, we can strike Margaret off our list." She, Jack and Nichole then went back to the van.

Another two hours later, Buffy and her group were waiting at a front door to a house in Phoenix Arizona when a woman who was seven month's pregnant answered the door. Buffy looked at the woman in a slightly stunned manner when Jack said, "We're looking for Robyn Cartel."

"Well, you found her," she said. "So what can I do for you good folks?"

Dean saw that Buffy was lost for an explanation as she stared at Robyn in a baffled manner. He then helped out Buffy by saying, "Jesus loves you, Robyn, and if you give us a couple of hours of your time we can…"

"I don't mean to be rude to… to you five, but I'm not interested in hearing about religion from a group of strangers."

Buffy slightly grinned while saying, "It's perfectly understandable."

"We're sorry to waste your time," Sam added. Robyn just nodded before backing away and closing the door.

As they walked away from the house, Buffy said, "Thanks for the assistance, Dean."

"I'm always happy to help out a woman in distress," Dean replied.

Buffy just grinned and shook her head as Sam said, "Oh Brother."

Dean just glanced at Sam as Nichole said, "I get the feeling that you are good at getting out of uncomfortable situations."

"Yeah, well, when you hunt demons for a living, you pick up tricks on the way," Dean said.

"So, Buffy, where to now," Sam asked.

"Our next stop is Utah," Buffy replied.

At TEC headquarters, Xander and Willow were eating in the cafeteria. While they were eating Willow began doodling on a napkin.

Xander watched Willow for only a few seconds before asking, "What are you doing?"

"I'm working on a time traveling spell," Willow answered.

"Why?" Xander asked in a drawn out manner.

"Since we're in a facility that deals with time traveling, I feel that it was the thing to do," Willow said.

"They do have a device for that."

"I know." Xander just shook his head before taking a bite. As the minutes passed, Xander watched Willow as she created her spell while coming up with three symbols along with the incantation for it. The spell was created with light magic and it would only take someone back twenty-four hour to the previous day.

Buffy had traveled to a city in Utah and then to a city in Nevada for a potential team member; however, Buffy found in both cities that each one had kids as well.

After traveling to a second city in Nevada, Buffy and her group were again waiting for someone to answer the apartment door of a three-story apartment building. They waited for a few seconds before a ten-year-old boy opened a door to an adjacent apartment. The boy glanced at everyone in a curious manner before saying, "No one's home."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Can you tell me if Amber Chiu lives here though?"

The boy shrugged before saying, "I don't know who lives there."

"You don't know who lives next door to you?" Sam questioned.

"Me and my mom moved here yesterday," the boy said. "I saw a girl leaving that apartment earlier. Her name might be Amber Chiu."

"So any clues to where to look for her?" Jack asked Buffy.

Dean was about to say something when the boy said, "You can try the Red Dragon karate school down the street." The boy saw everyone giving him a curious look. "She was carrying a Red Dragon gym bag."

"I guess it won't hurt to check the place out," Buffy said.

"Thanks kid for the information," Nichole said.

"My name's Charlie."

"Okay, Charlie," Nichole said. "Bye."

"Bye," Charlie said. He then back up and closed the door.

As Buffy and her group were leaving the apartment building, Nichole said, "Someone should wait here in case Amber returns."

"I'll stay," Dean said.

"I'll stay too," Sam said.

"Okay, we'll be back for you guys soon," Buffy said. She, Jack and Nichole then returned to the rented vehicle.

Within minutes, Buffy, Jack and Nichole walked into the karate school. There were three instructors teaching eight or nine students each. A twenty-three-year-old oriental man was the closest instructor near the door. When he saw Buffy's group walking in he left his students. Nichole was gazing the room as the instructor stepped up and asked, "May I help you three?"

"We are looking for Amber Chiu," Buffy said. "We were told to try here."

"You've been misinformed," the instructor said.

"So she's not a student here?" Jack asked.

"She hasn't been a student here for four years," he said.

"We're sorry to interrupt your class," Buffy said.

Before Buffy and her group had a chance to turn away, the instructor asked, "Why are you looking for my sister?"

"Your sister?" Nichole mocked.

"Yes, my sister," he said. "Why are you looking for her?"

"That's actually a private matter," Jack said.

"My name is Buffy Summers. There names are Jack Logan and Nichole White and we just want to talk with your sister."

"My name's Harry and if you tell me what it's about, I could make that happen for you,"

"We have a proposition for her and if she rejects our proposition then we'll be on our way," Buffy said. "I can't say anymore."

Harry stared at Buffy in a skeptical manner for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "I'll call her and have her come down."

"Thank you," Buffy said.

"Well, you should know that every student in here knows and likes Amber," Harry began. "If you try something that I don't like, you three will be carried out on stretchers."

Buffy looked into Harry's eyes while saying, "Your concerns for your sister is understandable, but we are not here to harm her."

Harry just nodded before walking away.

Buffy, Jack and Nichole watched as the karate students practiced their moves for ten minutes before Amber walked in while carrying her gym bag. All three of them heard Amber entering from the main entrance and turned to look.

The twenty-year-old Amber stepped up to Buffy and questioned, "What do you want Buffy Summers."

Amber's bag was opened enough for Buffy to see that Amber was carrying what a slayer would carry. Buffy gestured towards the bag before asking, "How long have you been slaying vampires?"

"Shshsh," Amber quickly said as she glanced around the room. "No one here knows." She glanced at Buffy and her group. "Follow me to my brother's office. We can speak there."

Buffy gestured for her to walk while saying, "Lead the way."

Amber led Buffy, Nichole and Jack into a moderate size office. Jack was the last one through. Amber gestured to the door while saying, "Shut the door please."

"You got it," Jack said just before he shut the door.

Once the door was shut, Amber asked, "Who are you people and how do you know that I'm a slayer."

"About fifteen years ago, I was the chosen slayer," Buffy said. "You're not the chosen slayer though, so how did you get started slaying."

Amber gave Buffy a confused look before saying, "I'm not understanding what you mean about being a chosen slayer."

"A chosen slayer is the one to be called upon to fight vampires and demons," Buffy began. "It's true though that you were once a potential slayer, but you were never the chosen one. The chosen one has super strength… more strength than what you have now as being once a potential slayer."

"What? Are you some kind of slayer police?" Amber questioned. "Am I infringing on the chosen one's right some how?"

"No; of course not," Buffy said. "It's just that I'm a bit surprise that you began slaying without being called upon. What got you slaying in the first place."

"Before my sixteenth birthday I would wake up at night by horrible nightmares of vampires and demons. Then just after my sixteenth birthday, my boyfriend was bitten by a vampire and turned into one. I knew then that my dreams were more than just dreams."

"You were right about those dreams being more than just dreams. Those dreams were meant to prepare you at becoming the slayer if you would have gotten called."

"So why are you here, if you are not here to bust me for infringing on the chosen one's rights?"

"I'm going after a particular vampire that had stolen a top secret government device that could do major harm if he uses it. I have a list of eight women who were once potential slayers and I'm hoping to form a group to go after that vampire. I'm down to the last two names on the list though."

"So how many of these woman joined you?" Amber questioned.

Buffy gestured towards Nichole while saying, "So far it's just Nichole. Two of the others were moms. A third one was pregnant. A fourth one was arrested for killing her fiancé and fifth one refused."

"And now you are here talking to me?" Amber said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "You already chase after vampires and demons. So what do you say about joining me to go after this one."

"What did this vampire steal?"

"Until you sign a nondisclosure agreement we can't say," Jack said.

"We can use your help though," Buffy added.

"Where is this vampire?" Amber asked.

"We will be operating out of a facility in Washington D.C.," Buffy said.

Before anything else was said, Harry opened the door. Everyone turned to look at him as he walked in while asking, "Amber, are you okay in here?"

"Will you stop being a big brother," Amber demanded. "I fine. I can take care of myself."

"I just have a problem when three strangers show up and ask about my sister," Harry said.

"Harry, I'm fine," Amber said. "These people offered me a job that will take me to Washington D.C."

"What kind of job," Harry quickly questioned.

"Slaying vampires," Amber said in a smug manner.

Harry gave Amber disgusted and exhausted look before saying, "You told me that you were going to stop this non-sense."

"Vampire is real big brother. Ask Buffy. She knows all about it. And I'd never told you that I was going to stop. In fact, I'm not stopping until I find Kilo and his gang of vampires."

"Kilo! You're after Kilo?" Buffy quickly asked.

Amber gave Buffy a curious look before questioning, "You've heard of Kilo?"

"Yeah, he's actually hiding out somewhere outside Los Angeles. Faith is after him as well."

"Who's Faith?" Amber asked.

"Faith is a slayer also… a chosen slayer and as for Kilo's gang, Faith had dusted them," Buffy assured Amber. "Kilo is the only one left and I assure you that Faith will dust Kilo very soon."

"Are you seriously telling me that Amber was speaking the truth about Kilo being a vampire?" Harry questioned.

Before Buffy could answer, Amber uttered out, "Kilo turned my boyfriend into a vampire."

"Harry, vampires and demons are real," Buffy said. "Amber was even once a potential slayer; however, on her twentieth birthday, she became too old to be the chosen one. She still possesses slayer's ability though. In fact that's why I'm here. Her slayer's ability is still useful to me."

"Buffy, if you can swear to me that Faith will dust Kilo, I'll joined your group," Amber said.

"As a slayer, Faith is almost as good as I am and I'm the best," Buffy boasted "So unless Kilo flees the region, Faith will dust Kilo and that's a guarantee."

"Okay, you got yourself another team member," Amber said.

"Good…" Buffy was only able to get out.

Harry stepped up to Buffy and said, "If something happens to my sister, you will regret this day."

"Harry, back off," Amber demanded.

"No; I won't," Harry spouted. "I promise dad before he died that I'll keep an eye on you… in fact, I'm going to Washington D.C. too."

Amber gave her brother a shock look before questioning, "What about your responsibilities here?"

"I'll sell my fourth of the Red Dragon to the others and open a place in Washington D.C." Harry said.

"We can't stop you in moving to Washington D.C., Harry, but Amber will be signing a nondisclosure agreement and she won't be able to tell you the specifics of what she will be doing for us," Jack said.

"If I understand correctly, you're recruiting Amber as a slayer to fight vampires and demons," Harry said. "What else is there to know?"

"You do understand correctly, but there's a little more to it than that; however, we can't tell you what that is," Jack said. "She will be working for the government though."

"I really don't care as long as Amber doesn't get killed or maim," Harry said.

"Okay," Buffy said to break things up. "If we're done here, we need to go to Idaho. There's another potential team member there who we need to talk to as soon as possible. Amber, you should come with us… Harry, you're also welcome to come with us."

"Harry has loose ends to tie up here before he can come," Amber said. "Other than getting out of my lease I don't have anything here."

"I'll take care of your lease along with my affairs and then join you in Washington D.C.," Harry said.

Amber gave her brother a hug while saying, "Thanks, Harry."

When the hug ended Harry said, "Hey, Buffy. You were the best slayer before you recruited my sister."

Buffy grinned and said, "I hope your right. Well, we should go."

Jack gestured for everyone to walk. He then followed everyone out of Harry's office.

Before leaving the Red Dragon, Nichole said, "Hey, I haven't eaten since this morning. I would like to get something to eat before getting back on the plane."

"Let's meet up with Dean and Sam first," Buffy said. "Then we all can go and get something to eat."

"Who are Dean and Sam?" Amber questioned.

As Buffy, Jack, Nichole and Amber were leaving the Red Dragon, Buffy told Amber about Dean and Sam.


	5. Chapter 5

Once the sun had fallen in the east coast, Dr. Briers got into the driver's seat of the stolen truck that housed the time traveling device and drove west on a main highway.

In a quiet community on the outskirts of Twin Falls, Idaho, Buffy and her group pulled up in front of a burnout two-story house. After the six got out of their rented vehicle, Amber asked, "What was the address again?"

Buffy pointed to the burnout house while saying, "As you are suspecting, it that one."

"I think we're too late," Nichole said.

As Sam gazed at the house in a disturbing and focused manner he said, "We're six months too late."

Buffy saw as to how Sam was staring at the house and asked with a concerned tone, "Are you okay, Sam?"

Sam hesitated for a second before facing Buffy and saying, "Yeah. It's just that, Dean and I watched the wrong house six months ago."

Dean took a better look at the house before uttering out, "Son of a bitch!"

"Would someone like to let me in on what's going on?" Buffy asked.

"I get these dreams about demon activity before the activity occurs," Sam began. "Six months ago… in fact it was two days before Halloween, I had one of those dreams about this house, but I thought I was seeing a different house."

"We wasted seventy-two hours watching a house just like this one," Dean added. "The street name is even the same."

"Do you know what kind of demon that caused this?" Buffy asked as an eighteen-year-old man was leaving a house from a crossed the street.

"I never actually saw the demon," Sam said. "I just knew that someone was in trouble."

"We should probably go inside and look around," Dean suggested.

Buffy and Amber heard the teenager walking closer to the group and turn to look. When the teenager saw the two looking at him, he said, "I hope you don't plan to buy that house."

"We're here looking for someone, but we didn't know about the fire," Buffy said.

"What caused the fire?" Sam asked.

The teenager said in a tone as if he didn't believe what he was saying, "Well, the official story is that it was started from a candle being turned over."

"You sound as though you don't believe that," Dean said.

The teenager hesitated before saying while looking down, "I'm sure it was started by a candle being turned over."

"Were you around when the fire got started?" Dean questioned.

The teenager pointed towards his house and said, "I had just gotten home from a Halloween party and I was in the bathroom removing the hollowing make-up."

"So this occurred on Halloween night?" Buffy quickly questioned.

"Yeah, in fact there's a joke going around about it happening on Halloween night during the witching hour."

"Sweet," Dean sarcastically said.

"Did a young woman name Valerie Blackstone lived there at the time?" Buffy questioned.

"You mean the witch, Valerie Blackstone and yeah, she lived there," the teenager said.

"Witch?" Nichole was the first one to utter out.

"That's right; witch," the teenager confirmed. "She was always reading books on witchcraft and anything she could find on demons."

Dean glanced back at the house while asking, "She was summoning a demon?"

"Well, according to Valerie, the demons were coming for her and she was looking for a way to either stop or kill them."

"She took her dreams of demons as a demonic threat on her life," Buffy mumbled barely enough to be heard.

"Valerie would tell Tommy that she did dream of demons," the teenager said. "How did you know that?"

"That doesn't matter now," Buffy said. "Who's Tommy though?"

"He was my older brother. He dated Valerie for a year and then broke up with her when she began reading books on witchcraft and demons. He died in a freak accident not even forty-eight hours after breaking up with her. Valerie had sworn to me that she had nothing to do with it, but I'm not convinced that she didn't hex him in someway."

"So where is Valerie now?" Sam questioned.

"That's a good questioned," the teenager said. "My guess is that she ran off when the fire erupted and never looked back."

"So no one knows where she's at?" Buffy questioned.

"That's right," he answered. "I know the cop would like to find her and ask her a few questioned."

"Thanks for the information," Buffy said. She then gestured towards the house. "I know this is going to sound weird, but my friends and I are going to have a look see in the house."

"Suit yourself, but there is something wrong about that house since Valerie used her black magic," the teenager said.

"Like what?" Jack asked.

"I don't know the specifics, but everyone who walks in, comes out all disoriented," the teenager said. "

"I'll consider myself warned," Buffy said.

"Okay, well, I actually got a place to go and I'm already behind; so bye," the teenager said.

"Bye," Buffy said.

As the teenager was walking away, Jack asked, "Where you serious when you said that we were going in there?"

"I need to make sure that Valerie didn't open anything up that needs to be closed," Buffy said. "You don't need to go in there though."

"I was thinking the same thing," Dean said.

"I'm going with you, Buffy," Amber said.

"Since you, Dean and Sam have experience with fighting demons, you three are the only three I want to come with me," Buffy said.

"Shouldn't I come with you for the experience?" Nichole asked.

"Not this time," Buffy said. "You're way too inexperience if Valerie had opened something up."

Nichole said in irritated tone, "Fine, I'll just stay here with Jack."

Buffy glanced at Dean before saying, "Okay, let's go." She, Dean, Sam and Amber then turned and walked away.

A short time later, they were making their way through the hallways of the house. After a quick look on the first floor, they went up to the second floor. The fire had damaged most of the house beyond recognition. When they entered Valerie's bedroom, they saw while standing at the doorway a large encircled pentagram that Valerie had drawn and except for a dark three-inch in diameter spherical haze directly in the center, it was still in tacked. Seven different symbols where drawn inside the circle with the pentagram while three sets of three symbols were drawn outside the circle. Wax buildup from the use of candles was seen randomly throughout the room.

Amber took a step closer to the pentagram, but before she was able to take another step, Dean grabbed her while saying, "That's foolish to step any closer." Amber gave Dean a curious look for only a brief moment as he gazed around the floor next to his feet. Dean saw small chucks of broken drywall within arms distance and picked them up. He then threw a chuck into the direction of the pentagram.

"What are…" Amber was only able to get out as she watched the piece of drywall slow down to almost a stop in midair. The piece was then reflected at the point of the circle as if it had hit an invisible barrier and sped up as it moved away. "Shit! Did I see what I think I saw?"

"You did," Buffy said as she took out her cell phone.

As Buffy began taking pictures of the symbols Amber asked, "Now what are you doing?"

"Willow is the one who deciphers symbols like these," Buffy said as she took her third picture. "Since Willow is not here, I'm going to send the pictures to her." So Willow could see the entire display Buffy took several pictures that can easily be pieced together on Willow's end. Once Buffy was satisfied with the pictures that she took she attempted to send them to Willow. "I'm not getting any signal whatsoever. I'm going outside to send these pictures."

As Buffy was leaving the room, she heard Dean say, "I recognized two of the symbols inside the circle."

When Buffy stepped into the hall, she saw Jack entering the hallway from the steps.

Buffy heard Jack sounding like a fast talking chipmunk as he asked, "How much longer will you be?"

As Jack moved closer he saw Buffy moving in a sluggish manner while sounding as if she was on a slower speed when she asked, "What?"

Buffy gave Jack a curious look when he appeared to move and talk in a manner as if someone had hit fast-forward on life. As Buffy and Jack moved closer to each other, the speed of their movements and speech were returning to what they thought was normal.

"Is everything okay?" Buffy finally heard on more of a normal level.

"We don't know yet; we just got here," Buffy responded.

Jack gave Buffy a look as if she had lost her mind before saying, "You've been up here for an hour."

Buffy gave Jack a confused look while saying, "We just walked into the house less than ten minutes ago."

"You've been in here much longer than ten minutes," Jack declared.

Buffy thought for a second before blurting out, "Get out! Get out now!"

"What's going on," Jack said.

"I'll tell you when we're outside." Jack turned towards the steps to leave as Buffy yelled while she turning back towards Valerie's bedroom door. "Everyone out! We're leaving!"

When Buffy stepped back into the bedroom she saw Dean, Sam and Amber moving in slow motion for only an instance before Sam questioned, "Did anyone else here that buzzing sound?"

"That buzzing sound was most likely me yelling at everyone to get out," Buffy quickly said. "And we don't have time to waste, so everyone out now!"

As everyone was heading towards the door, Dean said, "Something got you frighten. What is it?"

"Valerie created a time distortion between this house and the outside," Buffy explained as they headed towards the stairs.

"How do you know?" Amber asked.

"Because Jack was just here and telling me that we were in the house for an hour," Buffy said.

As Jack was returning to the vehicle, Nichole questioned, "What in hell is going in there that is taking an hour and fifty minutes."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.

"You told me that you'll be back in a few minutes, but you've been gone for close to fifty minutes," Nichole

"I just got into the house," Jack proclaimed.

"You have been gone for fifty minutes," Nichole assured him.

Jack thought for a second before blurting out, "Shit!" He then pulled out his cell phone.

"What's going on?" Nichole questioned as Jack pressed the button to call TEC headquarters.

"That house is caught up in some kind of time anomaly," he told Nichole just before his party picked up. "Capt. Matuzek, it's Jack." He then proceeded to order a quarantine unit to the house.

Jack and Nichole were waiting by the car for another thirty minutes before Buffy, Dean, Sam and Amber stepped out.

As they were approaching the car, Amber asked, "Exactly how long were we in the house?"

"For two hours and fifteen minutes," Nichole said as Buffy was checking the cell phone signal.

"Buffy, once I made it out of the house, I realized that there is a time anomaly going on within the house and I called headquarters to get a quarantine unit here. They are probably another half hour away and once they get here we can leave."

Buffy pressed the button on her cell phone to send the pictures as she said, "I'm planning to fix this time anomaly before I leave."

"Buffy, being that it's a time anomaly, I'm pretty sure that Capt. Matuzek will agree to get a TEC agent involved," Jack said. Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam gave Jack a curious look.

As Buffy put her cell phone away, she said, "All right, but if Capt. Matuzek doesn't agree to it, I'm coming back."

"And how would you end this?" Jack questioned.

"Willow is good with these types of puzzles," Buffy said. "I'm confident that Willow can find a way to end it."

At the Angel's detective agency, Angel walked in and when he saw Faith showing Ben the books on different types of demons, he asked, "What's going on?" He faced Ben. "Who are you?"

"I'm Benjamin Alistair," he said.

"I hired him," Faith added.

Angel looked at Faith before saying, "We need to talk, Faith… in private."

"Before we do, he came recommended by Buffy," Faith said. Angel just gave Ben a curious glance. "We also have bigger issues to deal with."

"Like what?" Angel asked.

"We never killed that manifest demon," Faith said.

"Are you sure?" Angel asked.

"I'm positive," Faith said. "Philstein had given me a tip that Kilo was at the school house. Ben was with me and he saw his lost nephew there. There's also a chance that it won't be at the school now either."

"Why do you think that," Angel asked.

"Buffy is in Washington D.C. while chasing after a threat," Faith said while remaining vague. "There's a chance that the manifest demon will attempt to meet up with that threat."

"And that threat is?" Angel asked.

"A vampire had gotten his hands on a government device. Buffy is tracking that vampire before he can use that device," Faith said.

"Well that should be simple for Buffy," Angel said. Faith just gave a pleasing grin that Angel settled with that. "Anyway, we should gear up to go after that manifest demon… again"

"Just in case that demon didn't get the information from me about what Buffy is doing, I should sit this one out," Faith said. "And Ben should sit this one out too because of his emotional situation with his nephew."

"Okay, I'll get Gunn to help," Angel said.

"While you doing that, Ben and I are going to have a talk with Philstein again," Faith said.

"Oh and, Faith, I do the hiring around here for now on," Angel said.

Faith grinned while saying, "Okay, boss." They then went their respective ways.

During their plane ride back to Washington D.C., Buffy and her group slept as James piloted the plane.

Wednesday, April 10, at 5:40 A.M., Buffy and her group entered the TEC facility. Once inside Jack had someone to give Dean, Sam, Nichole and Amber a tour of the common areas. During the tour, Dean found an opportunity to get his hand on a blank letterhead stationery of the facility.

Sam saw him taking it and whispered to him, "What are you doing?"

"There has to be a police report made about what happen in Twin Falls six months ago," Dean whispered back. "I would like to get my hands on a copy and I doubt that the officers at the police station will give it to me, unless I work for the government." He then spoke to the person giving the tour. "Hey, buddy, is it possible for me to use a fax machine?"

The guy hesitated for a second while staring at Dean in a skeptical manner, before saying, "I'll take you to one."

"Super," Dean said.

Buffy and Jack went to Capt. Matuzek's office. Buffy stood closes to the door and it had just latched closed when Capt. Matuzek said, "Around three this morning someone matching Dr. Briers' description was stopped while traveling west by a state trooper. When the back-up arrived ten minutes later, the state trooper was found dead on the side of the road. Buffy, would you have an idea of where Dr. Briers might be going."

"Capt. Matuzek, New Sunnydale was built where the original Sunnydale was at and that region is a mystical convergent point for demonic evil… slayers will be drawn there as well. The nick name for that convergent point is called hell-mouth and hell-mouth might be where Dr. Briers is going."

"Could you be wrong about where he's going?" Capt. Matuzek said.

"Well… sure, I could be wrong. Not every vampire steals a truck and make there way to hell-mouth. Hell-mouth is also not as strong as it use to be ten years ago."

"Well, wrong or right, I have no clue as to where he's going," Capt. Matuzek said. "So at the risk of sounding too optimistic that he is traveling to hell-mouth, I'm positioning men along the route."

"And I'll let Tabitha know to keep an eye out for him if does make it to New Sunnydale," Buffy said.

"Now about that time anomaly in Twin Falls, Idaho…" Capt. Matuzek was able to get out before there was a knock on the door. "Buffy, would you mind getting the door."

"Not at all," Buffy said as she reached for the doorknob. Once the door was open, she gave the twenty-nine year old man who was at the door a curious look while looking him up and down. "You look so familiar. Have we met before?"

Buffy was blocking the man from Capt. Matuzek's sight, but Capt. Matuzek was able to recognize the voice when he said, "I can't tell you that or verify any guesses that you might have about me later."

"Buffy, let Casper in," Capt. Matuzek said.

As Buffy back up, she questioned, "Your name is Casper… as in Casper the friendly ghost?"

The man grinned as he walked in and said, "Well, three months before my fifth birthday, I wanted by my mom to change it to Casper, but she wouldn't. Casper is my call sign though."

"And what is your real name?" Buffy asked.

"I can't say," Casper said.

"Why not?" Buffy quickly asked.

"I don't want to risk disrupting the timeline," Casper said.

Buffy gave him a curious looked as she asked, "What do you mean?"

Before Casper could answer, Capt. Matuzek said, "Casper is from TEC internal affairs from the year 2038. He only appears when this agency is about to cause a serious time infraction."

"Wait, your actual date is twenty-five years from today?" Buffy questioned.

"Actually my date is May 20, 2038," Casper said.

"You look thirty so if I would track you down today, you would be five years old," Buffy said.

Casper grinned while saying, "Somewhere around there, but I can't give you my exact age."

"You look so familiar to me though," Buffy said.

Casper just shrugged in a manner as if to say, "I can't say."

Capt. Matuzek was finally able to ask, "Casper, why are you here?"

"You ordered Logan into the past to stop Valerie Blackstone…" Casper was able to get out.

"I was about too," Capt. Matuzek said. "You knocked on my door before I gave that order."

"I could never get my timing just right… anyway, the fact that you were about too is why I'm here," Casper said. "To stop Valerie will be a serious time infraction."

"You do know that Valerie Blackstone had created a time anomaly," Jack said.

"And you should know that, that time anomaly was supposed to happened," Casper said. "TEC would cause a major shift in the time-stream if you stop it."

"So we are not to do anything?" Jack questioned.

"I didn't say that," Casper said.

"I'm supposed to stop it," Buffy blurted out. "This is what I and the Scooby gang do." Casper glanced at the floor while attempting not to verify what Buffy had said.

"How will you stop it?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"I can tell you without violating my directive that the person with that answer will be knocking on the door soon." Casper barely got the words out when someone knocked. Buffy saw his shock expression before he grinned. "Okay, I'm lousy with my timing, so that knock was purely incidental."

Buffy gave Casper a grinned before opening the door. Willow stepped in while saying, "Capt. Matuzek, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's important."

"It's okay Willow; come on in," Capt. Matuzek said.

When Willow saw Casper she gave him a curious look while studying his face. Buffy saw what Willow was doing and asked, "He looks familiar to you too, doesn't he?"

Willow hesitated for a second before saying, "The reason why he looks so familiar is because he has Dawn's eyes and Brody's nose and mouth." Casper saw that Buffy had made the connection while Willow continued to say. "If he was born now, he could easily pass for Dawn and Brody's son."

Casper went to activate his time device while saying, "Well, my mission here is done."

As Casper was pressing the device, Buffy blurted out, "Not so fast, Hunter Aaron Carter." As Casper vanished from sight, everyone gave Buffy a curious look. "You come back here Hunter Carter… Hunter Carter!"

"Buffy, he's a time traveler; not Dr. Bombay from Bewitch," Jack interrupted Buffy with. "So unless you're planning to holler 'Hunter Carter' for the next twenty-five years to when he walks these halls, he's not going to hear you."

Willow had a confused expression on her face while saying, "Buff, that's not Hunter. Hunter is only four years old… well, five in eight weeks."

Buffy gestured to where Casper was standing, while saying, "That was Hunter. He's a timecop in the year 2038."

"Oh, did he time traveled back to say hi?" Willow asked.

"No; he came back to stop a time infraction that we were about to do," Buffy said. She then pointed towards Jack. "Or what he was about to do."

"We can worry later as to why Casper… or Hunter was here," Capt. Matuzek said. "Willow, you came in here with something important?"

"Oh, yeah," Willow said. "Yesterday just to be doing it, I came up with a time traveling spell. Buffy, those pictures that you sent me last night have the symbols for that spell in it…"

"Your symbols were found at the site?" Buffy questioned.

"Yeah, the nine symbols outside the cycle are mine, but it wasn't in my writing though, so in three days from the time you took the pictures, someone will go back into the past by three days while using my spell," Willow said.

Jack quickly asked, "How do you know it will be in three days?"

"There are only three symbols to my spell and the spell will only send someone back into the past twenty-four hours," said Willow. "The set of symbols will be carried into the past as well and according to the pictures that you sent me, the spell was repeated three times."

"Are you saying that if someone would go further into the past, there would be more symbols in the past than in the present?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"That's what I'm saying," Willow said.

"While using your spell, could someone go back to October 31, 2012?" Jack asked.

"Oh, sure, but that someone would have to repeat the spell over a hundred times," Willow said.

"I know what you're thinking, Jack, but you're forgetting the time distortion inside the house…" Buffy pointed out.

"What time distortion?" Willow asked.

"Valerie, the last potential team member, was trying to summon a demon last Halloween in order to kill it, but in attempt to summon the demon, she caused some kind of time anomaly within her house," Buffy said. "In my perception, I was only in that house for ten minutes, but in reality, I was in the house for over two hours. So anyone who attempts to use that spell in that house, won't be able to control time."

"Buffy, you told me a story about how your sister was able to detect a time loop anomaly when no one else did," Jack began. Capt. Matuzek's attention was roused "Perhaps she has a weird ability not to be affected by the time anomalies."

Buffy grinned before saying, "It won't hurt to find out… I do have a concern though. Willow, how would someone return to the present after going back to last Halloween?"

"Oh, that's nothing more than a simple reversal incantation that would reverse the meaning of the symbols," Willow said.

"So the same symbols will be used," Jack questioned.

"Yeah," Willow said. "But if someone goes back to when Valerie was in the room, she and any other living thing in the room would also be brought forward in time when the reversal incantation is recited."

"Well, that teenage boy did say that Valerie disappeared that night, so the timeline won't be affected," Jack said.

"Willow, what do you know about the seven symbols within the cycle?" Buffy asked.

"Well, I really never took a look at the other pictures that you sent me, but now that I know what's going on, I'll give it my full attention… as soon as my books arrive from New Sunnydale." Willow said. "I told Tabitha to overnight them to me, so it should be sometime in the next few hours."

"Okay, well, I guess I should call Dawn and tell her what we have planned," Buffy said. "After that, I'm going to write my nephew a letter that is to be delivered and opened on May 21, 2038."

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "Before you go to do that I want you and your recruits in the briefing room at eight o'clock."

"We'll be there," Buffy said. She then turned and walked out. Willow followed Buffy into the hall and while walking side-by-side, Buffy told her the full story of what happened.

In Capt. Matuzek's office, Capt. Matuzek received a phone call from a police station in Twin Falls. Jack was about to leave just as Capt. Matuzek gestured for him to wait. "Logan, do you know anything about a request for the police records on Valerie Blackstone's house?" Capt. Matuzek saw that Jack looked stumped. "The request was made by an Officer Dean Winchester of this facility."

Jack grinned and slightly shook his head before saying, "Dean is one of Buffy's recruits and to be honest getting the police report might help us."

Capt. Matuzek got back on the phone and approved the request for the records; however, he had given the person a different fax number to send them to. Once he hung up, he said, "I thought slayers were only woman."

"They are. Dean is a demon hunter and Buffy wanted two in her group because of them being good trackers."

"So who all did Buffy recruit?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"She recruited Nichole White, Amber Chiu, Dean and Dean's brother and partner, Sam. Should I bring them in here for you to meet?"

"I'll meet them later; however, you should know that the police report will be faxed to my office within a couple of hours and I'll personally hand it to Dean Winchester when I get them, so don't tell him anything."

"Yes, sir. However, you should know that Dean and Sam are used to working with just the two of them along with improvising to get what they need to find demons. He most likely doesn't see this situation as any different."

"I'll take that into consideration."

"Yes sir. Is there anything else?"

"That's all for now, but once I get that police report, I'll have you bring Dean Winchester to my office."

Jack nodded while saying, "I'll be back then." He then turned and walked out.

16


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N I realize that it's taking me several chapters to get to the theme of my story. I want the story to go into a certain direction and it's actually taking longer than I anticipated. **

7:50 A.M., Jack escorted Dean into Capt. Matuzek's office. Just after stepping in, Dean commented, "You wanted to see me, Cap?"

"It's captain or Capt. Matuzek," he corrected. "Now have a seat."

Dean politely grinned, "Of course; no disrespect intended."

Capt. Matuzek waited until Jack and Dean were seated before he continued to say, "First of all, Dean, I do understand that when you do your job… hunting demons, you do it without really having anyone to answer to. You can't do that here. Here everyone has to answer to someone."

Dean gave Capt. Matuzek a confused look before saying, "Okay… is there a reason why you're telling me this?"

Capt. Matuzek opened his desk drawer and pulled out the police report on Valerie's home. As he slid the file across his desk to Dean, he said, "I believe this is yours." Dean took and opened the file to see what it was. "Someone from the police station called here. He needed my approval to process your request. I approved it; however, I gave him a fax number to where it came to me." Dean looked up from the report and looked at Capt. Matuzek. "Now here's the protocol that you will be following in the future while being at this facility. One, you won't be impersonating a TEC officer again and if you do, there will be serious consequences. Two, the next time that you want a police report you are to come to me. If you can prove to me the relevancy of that report in helping you with what you're working on, I will personally expedite you getting that report. Three, you will follow all rules of this facility. Logan will fill you in on those rules at a later time."

Dean wasn't sure what to say other than "Yes Captain."

Capt. Matuzek glanced at his watch and as he was standing, he said, "Okay; well, it's time for you to find out what you've actually signed up for. Your group's briefing begins in five minutes."

Jack and Dean stood up as Capt. Matuzek collected the papers that are to be signed by Buffy's recruited group.

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Sam, Nichole and Amber were sitting in a large conference room that had a large table with over twenty chairs. Sam was telling one of the stories of his adventures. Once he was done, he glanced at the clock in the room and asked, "Since it's about time, any clues to the big secret?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "Sorry, but everyone has to sign a nondisclosure agreement first."

Before anything else was said, Capt. Matuzek, Jack and Dean walked into the room. Capt. Matuzek was carrying the papers to be signed. The door to the briefing room was left cracked open.

Capt. Matuzek said as he walked in, "Okay, ladies and gentlemen. It's time to find out what we do here… as soon as you four sign these papers." He then handed Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam the document that they had to sign. "Read over the papers and if you agree to it you are to sign it."

"And if we don't agree to it or sign it?" Sam questioned.

"Then we can't use you and you will be sent back," Capt. Matuzek said.

"I need everyone here," Buffy quickly said. "And the only thing that Capt. Matuzek wants kept quiet is what his people do here."

Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam took the time to read over the agreement. Once Dean was done reading, he said, "This looks like a standard form." He then signed it. Nichole, Amber and Sam also signed his or her form.

Jack collected the signed papers. Capt. Matuzek stepped up to the end of the table before saying, "Okay, as you read in the agreement, you can spend a minimum of twenty years in prison if you talk to anyone outside this facility about what we do here. The proper name of this facility is the Time Enforcement Commission. What we do here is that we track and go after time fugitives."

Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam gave Capt. Matuzek curious look just before Sam uttered out, "Time fugitives?"

"Time fugitives are criminals who find their way into the past byway of a time traveling device belonging to a seriously deranged individual," Capt. Matuzek said. "As you may be all guessing at this point that this facility houses a second time traveling device and less than a couple of weeks ago these were the only two time traveling devices in existence. Dr. Briers was one of the people who develop the time traveling device and less than a week ago, he and his team had created an improved device. Yesterday morning that device was supposed to have replaced our current device, but before that could happened, Dr. Briers… who is now a vampire, has stolen it."

"You think that Dr. Briers will use the device and escape into the past," Dean said.

"As I was telling Buffy yesterday, I don't foresee Dr. Briers going into the past," Capt. Matuzek said. "He knows that we would go after him and he doesn't have the device that would return him to the present in order for him to escape into another time period. I do, however, see him turning people of this time into vampires and sending them into the past. Since my officers don't have experience in catching vampires, that is where all of you come in. All of you are going to be sent into the past to go after any vampire that would be sent into the past. Oh and you will have the device that will return you to the present. Okay, now this is all I have. Buffy do you need to say something to your group?"

Buffy stood up and said, "I do have something to say… well, mostly to Nichole and Amber." As Capt. Matuzek sat down, Buffy took his place at the end of the table. "Nichole; Amber, as once potential slayers, you both have enhance strength, but you two still lack the strength of the slayer. If either of you would have been chosen as the slayer during your teenage years, your strength would have more than tripled at the moment that you were chosen. More than ten years ago, an evil known as the First Evil had threatened the entire line of the potential slayers. To protect the potential slayers of that time they were located and brought to Sunnydale so I could personally watch over their safety. As you know… or in case you don't know, Willow is a witch." Willow just politely grinned as each person glanced at her. "She stays away from dark magic though. During the threat of the First Evil, Willow had created a spell that would actually activate all potential slayers into becoming active slayers; however, Rupert Giles, my old watcher…"

"I resent being referred to as being old," a man said as he opened the door wider and entered the room.

When Buffy saw who spoke, she smiled before uttering out, "Giles… Oh, everyone, this is Giles. Giles is my… my former watcher."

"Hi, everyone," Giles said just before he took the closes available seat.

"Giles, I am grateful to see you, but why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"Capt. Matuzek had contacted the Watcher's Council and the council contacted me," Giles said. "And now I'm here with all of the passed watchers' journals on all vampire activities during the respective times in order for you not to kill any vampires that actually belong to that time."

"I thought all of the reference books belonging to the Watcher's Council were destroyed during the uprising of the First Evil," Buffy said.

"The watchers' journals were kept separately from the reference books," Giles said. "Anyway, as you were saying."

"As I was saying?" Buffy questioned. Giles just gestured towards the others. "Oh, yes, as I was saying; Giles warned me and Willow against casting any spells that would activate potential slayers to become active slayers. Well, actually Giles was all for it; it was the witch's coven located in England who was against it. There is supposed to be one active slayer at one time and the witch's coven feared that if we would change that through witchcraft, it might cause undesirable affects. If truth be told, I think that the members of the witch's coven were frightened by the thought of a large group of slayers forming and becoming super villains rather than super heroes. Anyway, Willow had come up with an alternative spell that would fully activate a slayer's ability without actually activating a potential slayer as an active slayer."

"How?" Amber asked as if on cue.

"I'm glad you asked," Buffy said. "The spell that Willow had come up with will change a selective piece of jewelry that a potential slayer will wear to where it will activate the slayer's ability while wearing it. This spells requires the jewelry, a few drops of an active slayer's blood… which will be my blood, a few drops of the potential slayer's blood and Willow's incantation. Oh and once the spell is cast, the piece of jewelry will only work on the potential slayer who it was cast for."

"When do we cast the spell?" Nichole asked.

"After this briefing will be good… unless Willow has other things to do," Buffy said.

"After this briefing is good," Willow said.

"Okay and after the spell is cast Nichole's and Amber's training will begin," Buffy said. "Of course, Dean and Sam, you two are perfectly welcome to train as well, but since Nichole and Amber will be the ones with the strength to fight vampires, those two will be the ones who do the actual battle."

"Then why are we here?" Sam quickly asked.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Sam," Buffy said. "Yours and Dean's skills as demon hunters are still wanted. It's just that demon hunters have a reputation of leaving unattractive scenes behind and we can't do that while going into the past. But demon hunters have excellent tracking skills."

"You want us for our tracking skills?" Sam questioned.

"You do have a track record of leaving unattractive scenes behind as well and at least, Sam and I had never destroyed a city," Dean also quickly said.

Buffy said in a defending tone, "Dean, when you go after a strong force like the First Evil without destroying a city then you can throw it up in my face, but until then you don't get to."

"Okay, someone's a little touchy of the subject," Dean commented.

"Buffy. Dean and I don't always leave the scene in shambles and killing vampires is different than going after demons," Sam said. "We do have experience in killing vampires."

"Okay, fine," Buffy said. "I won't limit you and Dean to just tracking, but you two… and me as well, can't be leaving disaster scenes behind."

"Capt. Matuzek, are you certain that the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the results of atomic bombs?" Dean asked in pun.

"Dean… bite me," Buffy sarcastically said.

Dean just gave Buffy a smug grinned as if to say, "Just give me the chance to."

"Okay, people, let's stay focus," Capt. Matuzek said as there was a knock on the door. He faced the door. "Come in."

A man stepped in and said, "Capt. Matuzek, there were two good size deliveries made. One for Willow Rosenberg and the other is for Rupert Giles."

"My books," Giles and Willow both said.

"Take the books to the office on…" Capt. Matuzek was able to get out.

"Sir, if those are books then there're enough books to fill our library alone and possibly than some," the man said.

"Just leave them on the dock," Capt. Matuzek said. "We'll figure something to do with them after this briefing."

"Well, everyone here now knows why we are here and I have nothing more to add," Buffy said as the man stood at the door. "So unless you have more to add, Capt. Matuzek, we're through here."

"I have nothing more to add, Buffy, so go and take care of your books," Capt. Matuzek said. "Murphy, show Buffy and her group the way to the docks."

"Yes, sir," the man at the door said.

Everyone stood up and left the room one by one. Once in the hall, Buffy gave Giles a welcome back hug and said, "It's good to see you."

"Once I heard what you were up to, I couldn't stay away," Giles said just as they ended the hug. "Oh and of course it's good to see you as well."

Buffy grinned. As she and Giles followed behind the others by a few steps, she commented, "It's a good thing that the Watcher's Council kept journals of every vampire that had ever walked the Earth along with its proper dates."

"It's a good thing that a stranger named Buffy Summers strongly suggested it along with the formation of the Watcher's Council."

Buffy stopped in her tracks while uttering, "What?"

Giles had stopped when Buffy stopped. "Your reaction now was very much like the Watcher's Council's reaction when they learned of a new slayer named Buffy Summers about seventeen years ago," Giles said just before they began walking again. Buffy showed a hint of a grin. "Of course they thought it was only a coincidence… until yesterday that is. Now they believe that you are the one who begins the Watcher's Council all those centuries ago."

"So the Watcher's Council hasn't always been around?"

"Compared to how long the vampires, demons and slayers have walked the Earth, the Watcher's Council is still a fairly new organization."

"How does the Watcher's Council locate a slayer once she is chosen?" Buffy questioned.

"Each one is located while using the exact same locator spell that Willow had used to locate Tabitha Foxworthy and the two slayers before her. The Watcher's Council was thinking that too was another coincidence as well."

"So I will also pass on the method on how to locate the slayers?"

"So it appears."

The walk to the docks was lengthy and the remainder of Buffy and Giles' conversation was casual. Once they had reached the docks, everyone, including Giles, was stunned to see the overwhelming number of boxes full of journals that the Watcher's Council had sent.

Xander was the first to speak while saying, "We'll need an entire floor to store these."

"I take it that the Watcher's Council doesn't believe in computers," Jack commented.

"There are journals here that are several centuries old and the Watcher's Council was a secret order with limited staff members," Giles said. "So you can imagine the trouble and the reluctance at getting these journals typed in the computers."

Willow found her books before saying, "Well, at least I have only ten boxes of books."

"Let's start with Willow's boxes and worry about the rest later," Giles said. Dean tucked the police report that he was carrying underneath his shirt in back.

As everyone was taking a box that was marked for Willow, Jack said, "Giles, I'll talk to Capt. Matuzek about converting one of the lesser used conference rooms to use as a record room for you."

"I appreciate that," Giles said.

"Well, I do think that he'll want these journals type into the computer and then either destroyed or sent back to the Watcher's Council," Jack said as everyone were walking with a box.

"Well, you are more than welcome to sit down at the computer and type them in," Giles said. "I'll even bring you your meals for the next several years."

"I was thinking more on the lines of bringing in several typists," Jack said.

"You can't trust just anyone to these books," Giles said.

"This is a top-secret facility so the people who will be looking at the Watcher's journals won't be just anyone," Jack pointed.

"Point taken, but you do need to be even more selective regardless of this being a top-secret facility," Giles said.

Buffy and her group took Willow's boxes to their office and stacked them against a wall. Once there, Nichole asked, "When are we going to cast the spell to activate Amber's and my full slayers' ability?"

"We can do it now," Buffy said as she glanced at Willow.

Willow nodded before walking over to get out the incantation spell that will bring out the slayer's full ability. Willow took out the spell along with taking out six old-style looking cross-necklaces with thick chains; four pairs of wide decorative bracelets and the container she needed to do the spell in. Once everything was spread out on the desk she said, "Any piece of jewelry will do, but these types of jewelries are my personal favorites. You can pick one of the necklaces or a pair of bracelets. Or if you prefer, you can use your own selective piece of jewelry."

"Can you do it on more than one piece of jewelry?" Nichole questioned.

"I can, but you really only need one piece of jewelry," Willow said.

Amber stepped up and selected one of the cross-necklaces before saying, "I'll go with this."

Jack was taking a closer look at the jewelry before saying, "The crosses are fine… they appear to have the right look to them. However, before the bracelets or any other jewelry can be used we will have to consult Dr. Easter and make sure that they are safe to wear into the past."

"Okay, fine," Nichole said as she too picked up a cross. "I'll also go with this."

Willow gestured to the container and said, "Okay, Amber and Nichole, put your crosses in there." Amber and Nichole placed the crosses into the container. Willow pulled out three straight pins and handed them to Amber, Nichole and Buffy. "Amber; prick your fingers and drip blood on only your selected cross. Nichole, you're to do the same with your cross. Buffy… well you know what to do."

Buffy grinned before pricking her finger. Nichole and Amber dripped blood on the selected cross as Buffy dripped her blood on both crosses.

Willow added her sacred ingredient and then recited the incantation. Jack, Dean, Sam, Nichole and Amber listened carefully to Willow's words. Both cross slightly glowed at two separate shades of red for only a moment before returning to normal. Willow grinned before saying, "Done. You two can now take your crosses."

As Nichole was picking up her cross, she asked, "How do we know if it works?"

As Nichole put the necklace around her neck, Buffy looked around, but the only thing she was able to find to test Nichole was her bag of stakes. Buffy walked over to it and took one out. As she turned around, she reared back. While throwing it as if she was after a vampire, she uttered out, "Catch this."

Nichole caught it two inches from her chest while blurting out, "Are you insane!" Amber, Jack, Dean and Sam were shocked by the sight.

Buffy smiled before asking, "Could you have done that before the spell?"

Nichole thought of what she had done before looking shock herself. "I just caught that!"

"Yes, you did," Buffy said with a grinned. "Your quick reflexes are now quicker. Your strength had increased. In fact, if you're not careful you could rip a door off of its hinges without even trying."

"Wow," Dean uttered out.

Buffy glanced at Dean with a slight grin before saying, "Amber, everything I said to Nichole applies to you as well."

Amber grinned before saying, "I thought as much."

"Oh and those dreams that you two were getting about fighting demons will now become more vivid and come more often," Buffy said. "Some of them will even be prophecies. Unfortunately you won't know which dreams are the prophecies until they're too late, so for now on be reluctant to disregard any dreams."

"All right," Nichole and Amber said.

"Okay, now until we hear anything on Dr. Brier's whereabouts or have to be sent into pass, we should spend our downtime training," Buffy said.

"Buffy, I do need to prepare you and your group about what to do when the time comes for you to be sent into the past," Jack said.

"Or we can do that and train later," Buffy said.

"Buff, I'll stay here and look at the spell that Valerie had done," Willow said.

"I'll stay and help, Willow," Giles said.

"That sounds like a plan," Buffy said.

As Dean took out the police report that he had tucked under his shirt he said, "Hey, Willow, here's the complete police report on when Valerie went missing." He held it out for Willow to take. "I flipped through it and saw fax copy photograph of the pentagram without the dark haze." Willow took the folder and opened it up to view what was there. "Surprisingly that fax photo came out in good quality and I figured it would help you out better to see a photo that was taken within hours after it had happened."

"Good thinking," Willow said as she stared at the photo Dean was referring too. "Thanks." Dean just nodded. Everyone, except for Willow and Giles, left the office.

During the following two and half hours, Willow and Giles searched the books that Willow had while trying to identify Valerie's spell. Buffy, Xander, Dean, Sam, Nichole and Amber sat in a briefing room and listened to a lecture given by Jack.

When Jack saw that the group was getting restless and inattentive, he said, "Okay, I gave you the main points that you have to know so I won't bore you anymore for today."

As everyone stood up, Buffy said, "Okay, Amber and Nichole. Let's go and train for an hour and then break for lunch." Before anyone could respond Buffy's cell phone rang. Buffy looked at who was calling before answering. "Faith, what's up?"

"Well, I have good news and some bad news for you," Faith said. "Which do you want first?"

"I might as well take the bad news first," Buffy said. Everyone around Buffy gave her a curious look.

"Angel went after the manifest demon last night and he couldn't find hide or hair of it," Faith said. "I think that the manifest demon knows about Dr. Briers and is heading your way."

"Dr. Briers might be heading west, so if there's any luck, they will miss each other and don't hook up," Buffy said as she noticed everyone's curiosity deepened. She gestured for them to wait a moment. "So what's the good news?"

"There's a demon named Lowkey that controls the eastern region from then entire east coast to Illinois," Faith said. "Lowkey will be the one to shake down for information, but be careful. According to Philstein, he can be dangerous."

"How?" Buffy questioned.

"All the Philstein will say is that Lowkey has eyes and ears, whatever that means," Faith said.

"Did you get an address for Lowkey?" Buffy asked.

"Not to Lowkey directly, but I did get one to one of his establishments," Faith said just before she gave her the address. Jack had a pencil and paper and Buffy repeated the address for him to jot down.

Once Buffy had the address, she said while putting her phone away, "Okay, the plans had changed into a field trip."

"Before you do that, tell us Faith's bad news," Jack said.

"The manifest demon that I told you about yesterday is now nowhere to be found in the L.A. area," Buffy said. "There's a good chance that it might be out looking for Dr. Briers."

"I knew you shouldn't have told Faith about what we're doing," Jack said.

"A TEC agent was with Faith when they stumbled across the manifest demon so even if I didn't tell her, the manifest demon would have found out about Dr. Briers from that agent anyway," Buffy pointed out.

"What is a manifest demon?" Amber questioned.

"It's a demon that will acquire your memories and used them against you." Buffy then said with agitated emotion, "Its favorite deception is making you think that you are seeing a lost or deceased love one. And if that doesn't tear up your emotions then the demon will go through a list of things to manifest one by one until it finds something that will turn you into a basket-case."

"It sounds as if you came across a manifest demon before," Sam said.

"Yes; eight years ago when the construction was well underway to rebuild Sunnydale… well, New Sunnydale," Buffy said. "And if you're carrying around emotional baggage, you definitely don't want to cross path with a manifest demon."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Amber asked.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'm good. We should go search for Lowkey."

"We can use one of the company's SUVs," Jack said. "So follow me."

Jack squeezed passed everyone to leave the room first. Everyone followed him out. Once in the hallway, Buffy said, "We need to pick up some supplies at the office before we leave."

"What kind of supplies?" Jack questioned.

"Slayer type supplies," Buffy said. "We are, after all, planning to walk into a demon's nest." Jack just gave Buffy a skeptical look before looking forward without responding.

At the office, Willow had written out the seven symbols that Valerie had used on a white board along with the possible incantation to it. Below that was another arrangement of the same seven symbols. Just one symbol was placed differently from the two spells.

Willow saw as Buffy and the others were entering the room. Buffy saw the symbols on the white board and before she could ask, Willow said, "I think Giles and I know what Valerie was trying to do, Buffy."

"I knew I can count on you two to figure it out," Buffy said. "So what did you two figure out?"

"From this spell we can't be certain of what kind of demon she had conjured up," Giles said.

"The demon that she was summoning was from her dreams," Willow added. "That we do know from the first symbol."

"Is there a demon that can slow down time?" Sam asked.

"That was Valerie's doing and I truly believe that it was done by accident," Willow said.

"How can you be sure?" Jack asked.

Willow pointed to the top row of symbols on the white board and said, "This is Valerie's spell." She pointed to the bottom set of symbols. "And this is what she was meaning to do."

Dean gazed at the two sets of symbols while asking, "It's the same seven symbols so why does it matter as to how they were arranged?"

"Valerie wanted an edge against the demon and she thought she would get that edge by making the demon move ten times slower than what she would," Willow began. "The bottom spell would have done that. The top spell is what Valerie did and that spell caused time inside the pentagram to move ten times slower than what is on outside of the pentagram."

"So in other words, Valerie had put the modifying symbol in the wrong place," Xander comment. Willow just grinned and nodded. "Talk about your misplaced modifiers."

"We never stepped inside the pentagram though and we were still affected by the time distortion," Sam pointed out.

"That is because that time inside the pentagram is literally weeks… months even behind the rest of the world," Giles said. "The time distortion is seeping out and the further behind time gets inside the pentagram the larger the affected area outside the pentagram will become. In another six months, the time distortion will most likely be noticeable at the streets."

"Oh and that dark haze that you guys saw is cause by the time displacement," Willow said. "That is also growing over time and will eventually take on the appearance of a black hole."

"Valerie created a black hole?" Jack quickly questioned.

"Just a small one," Willow answered. "Of course it's slowing growing and if it goes uncorrected…"

"Willow, how do we correct this?" Buffy interrupted with.

"Giles and I were working on that when you guys walked in," Willow said.

"Okay, we'll get out of your way so you can find the solution," Buffy said. "We came in for supplies anyway." Buffy moved towards her bag of stakes. "We're going to a demon club in attempt to get some information and I don't want to go unprepared."

"I still find it hard to believe that there are demon bars and Sam and I never found out about it before now," Dean commented as Buffy gathered her stuff.

"The demons do try to hide those little tidbits from demon hunters," Xander said. "It is after all bad for business."

"We're not going there to shut down that business either," Buffy added. "We just need information and these slayer supplies are just in case the demons try something against us."

"Sam, we say nothing about this to Ellen or to the people at the roadhouse," Dean said.

"A word of advice, Dean," Buffy said while holding her bag of stuff. "Not all demons want to do harm to people. In fact a good portion of them try to steer clear of us. Anyway, I'm ready."

"Before you go, Buffy, you should know that the police report does indicate that my spell was written on every square inch of the floor and the four walls," Willow said. "So my spell was used to go back to last Halloween."

Buffy grinned and said "Thanks, Will." Willow just grinned and nodded.

"Okay, follow me to the SUV," Jack said. As Jack left, Buffy and her group followed.

Fifteen minutes later, Jack pulled in front of a nightclub type building with dark tinted windows.

Everyone got out of the vehicle. As Buffy stood next to her opened car door, Jack said, "I think Faith mislead you, Buffy. This place has been empty for close to five years now."

"Demon bars or clubs will have the appearance of being a closed down establishment," Buffy said. "This place; however, looks as if it could be a vampire's after-hour hangout."

"Where did you get that idea at?" Sam asked.

"The windows are made to keep out sunlight," Buffy said.

"I'll be a…" Amber cut the rest of her sentence off and continued to say, "I have ignored three clubs like this in my hometown while thinking that it was just an empty building."

"And you could have gotten yourself killed if you walked into a nest of vampires so it's really a good thing that you did ignore it," Buffy said. "Anyway, I have three stakes. Amber, Nichole and I get the stakes." She tossed a stake to Amber and Nichole. "Conceal it under your clothes somewhere and don't pull it out unless I tell you to. And everyone gets holy water and a cross." She tossed the items to everyone. "You guys also need to conceal the items somewhere out of sight."

As everyone was concealing their items, a calico cat wandered up to the group and began rubbing against their legs. Dean attempted to shoo the cat away, but the cat only moved out of Dean's reach while still being underfoot with the others.

"Just ignore the cat," Jack said.

"The cat is cute anyway," Amber said as she kneeled down and petted the cat. "She or he looks a lot like a cat I use to have when I was eight." Amber checked the sex of the cat. "Her name was Patches. This cat's a male though. I wonder if he has a home."

"Amber, we're not here to pick up stray cats," Dean said.

"I know, but he's so cute and friendly," Amber said as she continued to pet the cat. Everyone could hear the cat purr. "And he has no collar on. I hate to just leave him out here if he's homeless."

"Amber, get info first; worry about the homeless cat second," Buffy said.

"You're right," Amber said as she stood up.

"Okay, let's go," Buffy said. As everyone followed Buffy the cat followed the group. "And remember, we are only after information."

Buffy and her group walked up to the door. The door was locked and after a brief moment while trying to open it normally, Buffy used her slayer's strength to open the door.

"Lock doors aren't too much of an obstacle for you, are they?" Sam asked.

"To be an obstacle it must first slow me down," Buffy said. "A locked door has never slowed me down." She then stepped in followed by the others. Amber lagged behind and kept the cat from entering the building.


	7. Chapter 7

Inside the building, Buffy and her group walked through a short anteroom. They were midway to the lounge area when two normal men entered to investigate the sound.

When the men saw Buffy's group, one of them said, "You're trespassing. You people have to leave. Now!"

"We understand that Lowkey owns this place," Buffy said. Both men appeared slightly stunned. "We would like to talk with him."

"Who are you people?" the second man asked.

"We are the people who are looking for Lowkey," Buffy said as a demon that Buffy recognized stepped behind the two men.

The demon said with slight fear in his voice, "Buffy Summers."

"Malkye, so this is where you disappeared to when I ran you out of New Sunnydale six years ago," Buffy said.

"I left because leaving suited me," Malkye said.

"Malkye, who are these people?" the second man asked.

"I just know Buffy and she's the slayer," Malkye said. "She kills vampires and demons."

"I'm not here to slay," Buffy said. "We just want to talk with Lowkey."

"Lowkey is not here nor does he come around," the first man said.

"He does own this place though?" Jack asked.

"He does," the first man said. "What do you want?"

"No offence, but I'm not talking to two mules and an annoying clatis demon about this," Buffy said.

"We're humans," the second man said.

"Humans who work for demons are mules," Buffy said. The two men gave Buffy an extremely annoyed look. "I'm surprised you two didn't know that; beings that you two are mules. Anyway, if I can't speak to Lowkey directly then I want to talk to the one who Lowkey had put in charge of this place."

The two men gazed at each other for a second. The second man shrugged before facing Buffy and saying, "Follow me. And I don't want any trouble from any of you."

"We won't start any, but I can't promise that we won't finish any that might get started," Buffy said.

The second man gave Buffy a skeptical look before saying, "Follow me."

Malkye went back to what he was doing as the two men led Buffy and her group to the bar. Four vampires and six various types of demons were spread out. Just before they stepped up to the bar, a vampire had begun staring at Jack. An open door leading into the basement had caught Buffy's eye. Buffy whispered back to her group, "Keep an eye on the basement door and alert me if vampires emerge from it."

"Will do," Dean was the first to say.

A bracken demon was behind the bar and as they stepped up, the demon uttered out, "Humans!"

"Bracken demon," Buffy uttered back. "Now that we all know what we are, I would like to see the person… or demon in charge."

"I'm the one in charge," the bracken demon said.

"Great," Buffy said. "We're looking for a recently sired vampire that stole a large truck and I was hoping that you might be able to help me."

"And why would I help you, human?" the bracken demon asked.

"I thought that you may want to give me a reason not shut you down," Buffy said. Sam gave Buffy a slight stunned look at her boldness. The others glanced around while looking for anyone that might challenge Buffy's statement.

The bracken demon laughed before commenting, "And you think that you seven, a ragtag group of demon hunters, can shut this place down."

Buffy leaned towards the demon and whispered, "Actually, beings that I'm the slayer, I think that I can shut this place down by myself."

In an isolated area, a demon of an unknown origin was gazing into one of many nine by nine picture type frames with what looked like shimmering glasses. Buffy's face was centered within the frame and as he studied her face, he uttered out, "So there's a slayer in D.C. Find out all you can about why she's in town and after that vampire."

At the demon bar, Buffy saw that the bracken demon was being preoccupied with his own thoughts for a brief moment before he questioned, "So why are you looking for this vampire?"

"Yesterday morning he took something that doesn't belong to him and I want it back," Buffy said.

"What did he take?" the bracken demon asked.

"As I said, something that doesn't belong to him and that's all you need to know about it," Buffy said firmly. "Anyway, have you heard of a vampire that took a truck and skip town with it."

As the demon gazed at the shimmering glass, he said, "This slayer has peaked my interest."

Buffy once again noticed that the bracken demon was distracted by his own thoughts before he said, "I haven't heard of such vampire until you came along, but now that I have I'll keep my eyes and ears open."

"Then if there's no objections, I will be back," Buffy said.

Buffy again saw the bracken demon in his own thoughts before saying, "The working entryway is in the rear. Knock five times on the door and it will open for you."

Buffy gave the bracken demon a look as if she was trying to solve a puzzle. She then glanced at the other demons in the room. Each demon was preoccupied with his or her own activity, except for the vampire that was staring a hole through Jack. After facing the bracken demon again she said, "I'll be seeing you."

Buffy and the others turned away from the bar. Before they got too far, the vampire that was staring at Jack, stepped up to him and said, "Capt. Drechsler."

Buffy saw the recognition in Jack's face before he told him, "I'm sorry, but you are confusing me with someone else."

The vampire changed into his demon face. Terror came across Jack's and Nichole's faces. Buffy saw Amber reaching towards the stake that was concealed under her shirt. Buffy grabbed Amber's arm while subtly shaking her head to signal her not to pull it out. Dean and Sam readied themselves to pull out their crosses and holly water if the situation would get worse. Xander just looked around for any other demons that might want to chime in. The vampire sniffed Jack before saying, "I'm not confusing you with anyone. I can smell that you're human, but you were also in Berlin in 1942. What spell did you used to remain young?"

"We have never met before and especially not in 1942," Jack insisted. "My dad wasn't even born then."

"You are Capt. Drechsler from the Gestapo," the vampire said. "You look a couple of years older, but you are him."

Buffy saw the gazes that Jack was getting from every demon and vampire in the room. The bracken demon was also staring at Jack in a focused manner.

"We have never met," Jack angrily insisted.

"Drechsler, you can't lie to a vampire of who you are." Jack gave Buffy a stunned looked as Buffy continued to tell the vampire. "Drechsler had cast an immortality spell days before the allied forces won the war and as far as the allied forces is concern, he's been dead for more than sixties years. Now if you'll excuse us, we're leaving."

When the vampire stepped back, Buffy and her group left out by the same way that they had entered.

Once they were outside, Jack angrily asked Buffy, "Why did you tell that… that vampire that I was Drechsler?"

The cat was still at the door. Amber picked up the cat as Buffy began to explain, "Vampires, werewolves and several types of demons have excellent sense of smell. You could have had plastic surgery done to your face to change your appearance and that vampire would still know that it was you. You do know him, don't you?"

"I crossed path with him on one of my missions," Jack said. "He was wearing a German uniform with the rank of sergeant. I never knew he was a vampire though."

"You wouldn't have, unless he was going to feed on you… and then it would have been too late to do anything," Buffy said.

"Well, why did you tell him that I had cast an immortality spell on myself?" Jack questioned.

"Because you and that vampire had everyone's undivided attention and some excuse had to be given to satisfy their curiosity in order for us to leave without incident," Buffy said.

"Okay, well, what happened can't be changed so we should get back to base," Jack said.

"Hey, guys, any objections for me to bring the cat along?" Amber asked.

"Capt. Matuzek might, so don't be surprised if he makes you put him out," Jack said.

"Well, my brother is supposed to move up here, so maybe Capt. Matuzek won't mind the cat for a few days," Amber said.

"You can try," Jack said as he moved towards the driver's door.

As everyone was getting into the vehicle, Nichole asked, "Buffy, were you serious about werewolves?"

"Of course; werewolves have great sense of smell," Buffy said as everyone was getting comfortable in the vehicle.

"I was referring to werewolves being real," Nichole said.

"Everything you heard about a werewolf is true," Sam said as Jack started the SUV. "Dean and I had hunted a few."

"You killed werewolves?" Buffy quickly questioned in a disturbed manner.

"We bagged a couple," Dean said as Jack was driving away. "Do you have a problem with it?"

"Werewolves are people most of the time and only werewolves three times out of the month," Buffy said. "All you have to do is restrained one during the three days of the full moon."

"We tried… and more than once," Sam confessed "Most of the ones that we encountered didn't want to be restrained."

"I do understand your feelings, Buffy, and we do give each person the chance to restrain him or herself first, but you honestly can't expect us to become keepers to the people who don't want to be restrained before changing into werewolves," Dean said.

Buffy slightly sighed before saying, "Of course not. Have any of them allowed themselves to be restrained before turning."

"There were three who agreed to be restrained before sunset and we left them alone," Dean said.

"Two of the three were killed within two months by a different hunter," Sam added. "We don't know about the third one."

"At least I'm glad to hear that you two gave them a chance," Buffy said. "Anyway, had anyone other than me saw the long pauses from the bartender before he spoke?"

"Yeah, I did," Xander said. "What was up with that?"

"Bracken demons are not known for having telepathic ability, but it appeared to me that, that one was telepathically communicating with someone," Buffy said.

"Were there any telepathic demons in the bar?" Amber asked as she was petting the cat.

"I didn't recognize any as being a telepathic demon," Buffy said. "And not one acted as if he or she was telepathically talking to the bracken demon."

"Then who would the bracken demon be telepathically talking to if the demon wasn't in the room?" Xander asked.

"Lowkey," Buffy straight forwardly said.

"You think that the bracken demon was talking to Lowkey?" Amber asked.

"When Faith pointed me towards Lowkey, she also warned me that Lowkey has eyes and ears," Buffy said. "That warning actually makes sense if Lowkey was able to see and hear through his bartenders. Plus if Lowkey can telepathically communicate through his bartenders then there would be no reason for him to visit his own bars."

The demon was gazing into a different shimmering glass while saying, "That's a very astute observation, Slayer, but my bartenders are not the only ones I see and hear through."

At the TEC headquarters, Col. Daniel Carlson of the United States Air Force stepped into Capt. Matuzek's office while carrying a briefcase. Capt. Matuzek greeted him with a handshake while saying, "It's nice to meet you, Col. Carlson, but I am at a loss as to why you are here."

"Your report from yesterday had greatly concerned a few high ranking officials at the Pentagon."

Capt. Matuzek gestured towards a chair before saying, "Please have a seat."

"Thank you, Capt. Matuzek," Col. Carlson said before taking a seat.

"The folks at the Pentagon don't believe that a vampire stole the latest time-traveling device, do they?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Actually, that part they believe. The part that shot up red flags were the names Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris."

"Why would those three shoot up red flags?"

"Thirteen years ago, there were special forces known as the Initiative. Their orders were to capture; study and catalogue sub-terrestrials…"

Capt. Matuzek interrupted with, "What are sub-terrestrials?"

"Some people think that sub-terrestrials are various types of demons and vampires."

"I'm just guessing here, but by chance was the Initiative posted in Sunnydale California."

"It was, Capt. Matuzek," Col. Carlson confirmed. "In fact, the base of operation was located under the Sunnydale University."

"I think I have a clue as to where this is leading to and I'm going to stop you right there," Capt. Matuzek said.

"Capt. Matuzek, this is important that we discuss this," Col. Carlson insisted.

"Oh, we will discuss this and in great detail, Colonel, but there are at least three people missing from this discussion," Capt. Matuzek said.

"You want Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris part of this discussion?" Col. Carlson questioned.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you about to accuse those three with inferring with a military operation?"

"It's actually much more serious then just interference," Col. Carlson assured him.

"Yeah, well, I've been in my current position long enough to know that there are always two sides to every story. I want to hear both sides and until that can happen, this discussion is being tabled."

"Fine,' Col. Carlson said with a slight attitude. "How soon can you get them in here?"

Capt. Matuzek picked up his phone while saying, "Let's find out." He then made a phone call to Jack.

Ten minutes later, Buffy, Willow and Xander walked into the briefing room as instructed. When Buffy saw the Air Force Colonel with documents spread out in front of him, she quickly questioned, "What's going on?"

"This is Col. Carlson from the United States Air Force." Capt. Matuzek then continued to say as he pointed who was who for the Colonel to hear. "Colonel, meet Buffy, Willow and Xander." The three just gave the colonel a curious look. "Apparently your three names threw up some red flags at the pentagon level and I thought you three should be here to hear what he had to say about it."

"I have an inkling of what red flag was thrown up and I can also imagine what he might have told you about it," Buffy said as she, Willow and Xander stood just inside the door.

"Capt. Matuzek refused to hear what I had to say until you got here," Col. Carlson said.

"As I said, I wanted to hear both sides," Capt. Matuzek added. "Anyway, you three, please take a seat."

As Buffy, Willow and Xander were taking a seat, Willow questioned, "This is about the Initiative, isn't?"

"It is," Capt. Matuzek confirmed. "Colonel, you get to go first. Oh and Buffy; Willow and Xander, you three will get your turn to speak so please hold your opposing comments until it's your turn. Okay, Colonel, tell me what you came here to tell me."

"Okay, well to recap, the Initiative's orders were to capture, study and catalogue sub-terrestrials," Col. Carlson began. Capt. Matuzek saw that Buffy rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "According to my records, things were going smoothly up to the point that Buffy discovered the Initiative and then all hell broke loose."

"In what way did all hell break loose?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Well, the Initiative was gathering more sub-terrestrials than normal; which was good that the sub-terrestrials was being removed from the surface," Col. Carlson said. "Professor Maggie Walsh, the team leader of the project, was killed. Speculation was high that Buffy was involved somehow or even directly responsible for her death. Then at some point Buffy, Willow, Xander and one other had broken into the Initiative's base and was immediately captured. As they were being held within the facility for questioning the sub-terrestrials had gotten loose from their cages. Speculations were that these three were responsible for the sub-terrestrials' escape and almost everyone in the Initiative was killed. There were only a handful of survivors. Their group came out without a scratch… which was suspicious in itself."

"Oh believe me, we got our share of bumps and bruises," Xander said. Capt. Matuzek just gestured for him to wait his turn.

"Anyway, since that fatal day, the Initiative was disbanded and the projected was abandon," Col. Carlson continued to say. "Buffy, Willow and Xander were the prime suspects that caused the disaster and if there was any proof to back up the allegations that are against them they would be spending their remaining days in a high maximum prison."

"Are you through?" Buffy quickly questioned.

"I am and I guess this is where you tell me that the report I have is a lie," Col. Carlson said.

"What you said wasn't a lie," Buffy said. "I was… still am apparently, the prime suspect to what went down; however, the series of events that you described could also be compared to Swiss cheese. There are so many facts that were left out that it's not even funny."

"Buffy, tell me your side of the story," Capt. Matuzek said.

Buffy just stared directly at Col. Carlson as she said, "The Initiative's orders to capture, study and catalogue sub-terrestrials are true, Colonel, but you had left out the unsanctioned experiments that was being done to them."

"What unsanctioned experiments?" Col. Carlson quickly questioned.

"Placing behavior modification chips in their heads in order to control them for starters," Buffy said. "Or perhaps you would like to talk about the unsanctioned project of 314."

Col. Carlson flipped through his papers before saying, "There's nothing in my report about project 314 or the behavior modification chips."

"Now there's a shocker," Xander uttered sarcastically and barely loud enough to be heard.

"Then let me enlighten you," Buffy said. "Project 314… or Adam. Adam was created from body parts from various types of demons, human and even computer parts. He was built virtually indestructible. Now I don't know if Adam had awakened prematurely, but when he did awaken, he killed Professor Walsh and then escaped. Those demons… or sub-terrestrials as you called them were never captured by the Initiative; they surrendered. Adam wanted as many demons inside the Initiative as possible so that when he initiated his plan the body count of the demons and humans would be high."

"What was Adam's plan?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"To build more monsters like himself from the carnage," Buffy said.

"You expect me to believe this?" Col. Carlson asked.

"And I care that you believe me because?" Buffy questioned.

"For one there is a major concern about you and your friends' presence being at yet another top-secret base and I'm here to determine if the military should step in," Col. Carlson said.

"Col. Carlson, this is not a military base and the military has no jurisdiction here," Capt. Matuzek abruptly said. "Your presence here is only as a courtesy."

"Colonel, the people in the Initiative are dead because they were messing with forces that they had no business messing with and if it wasn't for Buffy, the death toll from Adam would have been immeasurable," Xander said. "Hell, in a reality without Buffy, there is a huge army of Adams marching on the United States as we speak."

"Of course Xander is speaking theoretically," Willow said as she gave Xander a look as if not to say any more on the subject. Capt. Matuzek saw the look, but chose not to pursue it.

"If Adam was as strong as you say, how did you stop him?" Col. Carlson said.

"Willow had cast a spell that allowed her mystical essence, Xander's mystical essence and Giles' mystical to be combined with mine," Buffy said. "Rupert Giles is the fourth person there and during that spell, I became more indestructible than Adam."

"So you're telling me that you and your friends defeated Adam with hocus pocus?" Col. Carlson questioned.

"Hocus pocus; magic; witchcraft; the forces of the supernatural; whatever you choose to call it," Buffy said. "The fact remains that my friends and I had cleaned up the government's mess."

"And there's nothing in my papers to collaborate your claims," Col. Carlson said.

"Do you really expect the government to admit that they made a mistake?" Capt. Matuzek questioned. Buffy gave him a grin.

"I guess we're at a slight stalemate, Captain," Col. Carlson said. "I can't prove anything and neither can they."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, Colonel," Capt. Matuzek said. "Here at TEC headquarters we do have the authorization to send a recon patrol into the past for OWI missions." Capt. Matuzek saw the confusion on everyone's face. "OWI stands for observation without interference and within hours we can find out what really happened." Capt. Matuzek saw the pleasingly at ease smile growing across Buffy's face. "However, I don't really see that to be necessary, unless the people in pentagon force the issue."

"So just like that you're going to disregard what is in these documents?" Col. Carlson questioned.

"Colonel, before taking on my current position I was a detective for several years and as a former detective I have developed a skill," Capt. Matuzek began. "That skill is reading people. When I look at you, I see that all you know about the Initiative is what you are allowed to know. Buffy, on the other hand, wants me to send a recon patrol back to see the truth about Initiative. I saw the, 'finally. The whole truth will be told,' look in her face when I mentioned a recon patrol. Now we could pursue this further, but I don't think it will be in the military's best interest to do so. So with that said I will be going as plan and leaving demon and vampire hunting to Buffy and her group."

Col. Carlson stood up. As he abruptly gathered his documents, he said, "Gen. Wyman won't be please with this."

"I supposed he won't be, but since I don't answer to Gen. Wyman, that isn't my concern," Capt. Matuzek said.

Col. Carlson picked up his briefcase to be carried and said, "Well, once I make my report of this briefing, I can't promise that this matter will be dropped."

"I'll be ready for Gen. Wyman if he wishes to pursue this matter further," Capt. Matuzek assured him.

"Good day," Col. Carlson said.

As Col. Carlson turned to leave, Buffy, Willow and Xander said in a slightly smug tone, "Good day."

Once Col. Carlson was gone from the room, Buffy said, "Thank you, Capt. Matuzek."

"You're welcome; however, there is one thing I need you three to do for me," Capt. Matuzek said.

"With what you did, I owe you several favors," Buffy said.

"The same goes for me," Willow said.

"Well, this is more of a homework assignment than a favor," Capt. Matuzek claimed. "I'm a person who doesn't like surprises so I would like for you three to write up a detailed incident report of your encounter with the Initiative and don't leave any detail out; no matter how small it sounds." Buffy slightly fidgeted before giving a timid grin and nodding. "Is that a problem?"

"Oh… no; it's not a problem," Buffy said. "It's just that before and even for a few months after the whole Adam incident I was dating a member of the Initiative."

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "You can leave the intimate details of your social life out of the report. However, I do want at least a mention of your relationship with him in the report."

"You got it," Buffy said.

"Oh and if there are any other past events that might come back to haunt your group then I would like a detailed report on that as well," Capt. Matuzek said. "And again intimate details of your social lives can be left out… or left vague if the relationship is important to the report."

Capt. Matuzek saw all three calculating in their heads before Xander said, "I hope you don't want these reports right away."

Capt. Matuzek grinned and stood up before saying, "At your convenience. The sooner the better though." The three stood up and followed Capt. Matuzek out the door.

As they were stepping into the hallway, Buffy asked, "Will, have you learn how to correct Valerie's time anomaly?"

"I think Giles and I had figured it out," Willow said as they walked down the hall behind Capt. Matuzek. "Giles is majorly concern as to what Valerie had summoned up though." Buffy never responded and when Willow looked, Buffy was lost in her own thoughts. "Buffy!"

Buffy came out of her thoughts with a slight start. As she glanced at Willow with a grin she said, "I'm fine, Willow. I was thinking that we should find Valerie's family and friends and find out what demons that Valerie was dreaming about." Buffy glanced at Capt. Matuzek who was four steps in front of them. "Captain!"

Capt. Matuzek stopped and faced the one who called him before asking, "What is it, Buffy?"

"My group and I need to go back to Twin Falls and talk to Valerie's family and friends," Buffy said.

"We know how to find them from the police report," Willow added.

"Why do you think that?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Valerie had conjured up a demon during her spell and that demon will most likely be brought to the present when we correct that time anomaly," Buffy began. "That demon was also from Valerie's dreams and we need to find out what demons Valerie was dreaming about."

"All right," Capt. Matuzek said. "Jack can accompany you and your group back to Twin Falls."

"Okay, I'll go find Jack and give him the happy news," Buffy said.

Before Buffy had a chance to move Capt. Matuzek gestured for her to wait while asking, "Buffy, have you contacted your sister yet?"

"Yeah, Dawn will meet us in Twin Falls when the time comes," Buffy said.

"If it's possible I would like to meet her before then," Capt. Matuzek said. "I will even make the flight arrangements for her."

"May I ask why, Captain?" Buffy questioned.

"If your sister can detect time anomalies as suggested then I can always used a person like her," Capt. Matuzek said. Buffy just grinned. "What does she do for a living now?"

"She helps out at our bookstore when we need a fill-in and she's always working out with Tabitha every chance she gets, but when it comes to having an actual forty hours a week job, she doesn't presently work," Buffy said. "Her husband Brody makes more than enough to support her and their son Hunter."

"What does Brody do?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"He and his father were two of the architects who began the construction of New Sunnydale eight years ago," Buffy said. "In fact you might have even heard of them. Their company's name is Aaron Brody Carter Sr. and Jr. architects Inc."

Capt. Matuzek grinned and nodded before questioning. "So even if your sister is an ideal candidate to join TEC, she most likely wouldn't join?"

"I'm unable to answer that," Buffy said.

"Why can't you," Capt. Matuzek.

"My sister has always been an active person and self-reliant and I truly believe that Hunter is the only thing that is keeping her from going stir-crazy while being a stay-at-home mom," Buffy said. "Once Hunter begins school, Dawn is not going to be a stay-at-home mom or housewife and Hunter will be starting school this September. Anyway, I will talk to Dawn about her coming here as soon as she can, which most likely be tomorrow."

"Okay, thanks," Capt. Matuzek said with a grin.

"You're welcome." Buffy then gestured down the hall while saying, "We'll go look for Jack now." When Capt. Matuzek nodded, Buffy, Willow and Xander walked away. Buffy got her phone out to call dawn. Capt. Matuzek went his respective way.

Minutes later, Buffy, Willow and Xander found Jack eating in the cafeteria with Claire, Dean, Sam, Amber and Nichole. Amber had the cat at the table while allowing the cat to drink milk from a bowl. When Buffy, Willow and Xander stepped up to the table, Buffy told Jack about what Capt. Matuzek had said.

Xander saw Willow gazing over the room in a curious manner before asking, "Are you okay, Will?"

"I'm okay," Willow said as she continued to gaze the room.

Everyone faced Willow as Xander said, "I would believe that a lot more if you weren't acting as if you were looking for something."

Willow gave Xander a smile before saying, "I'm fine." She then turned towards the cat and hesitated before speaking again. "That's a cute cat."

"He reminds me of a cat that I use to have when I was eight," Amber said as she petted the cat.

Jack stood up before saying, "Well, if we need to return to Twin Falls, let's go."

"Do you want Nichole, Sam, Dean and me to come to?" Amber questioned.

"Things might go faster if you four came with," Buffy said.

"What about Tabby?" Amber questioned as Nichole, Dean and Sam stood up.

"Who's Tabby?" Buffy questioned.

"That is what I named the cat," Amber said.

"I can watch the cat until you return," Claire said.

"Okay, thanks," Amber said she stood up.

"No problem," Claire said.

Except for Willow, Buffy and her group followed behind Jack as Jack walked away. Willow gazed at the cat in a disconcerting manner for a couple of seconds before catching up to the group.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N I should have mentioned this sooner, but most likely there will be spoilers randomly throughout this story. **

During the passing hours, Buffy's group casually talked during their flight to Twin Falls. When they arrived in Twin Falls, they had broken up into four groups of two (Buffy and Nichole; Willow and Amber; Xander and Jack; Dean and Sam), and each group went to a house belonging to one of Valerie's relatives or neighbors.

As the minutes passed into hours, each group was coming up empty until Buffy decided to visit the high school that was a few blocks from Valerie's house.

The school was out for the day, but not every faculty member had left. When Buffy and Nichole entered the school building they were greeted by a middle age woman who was walking towards the exit while carrying a briefcase. "May I help you two?"

"Oh, hi. I'm Buffy Summers and she's Nichole White," she began. "We're looking into the disappearance of Valerie Blackstone and I was curious to know if she had attended this high school a few years ago." The woman gave Buffy a drained look. "And from your facial expression, I'm betting yes."

"Ms. Summers, I am Vice Principle Juanita Doyle and yes, Valerie had attended this school a few years ago, but if you are here to peek at her transcripts, I'm afraid that I can't allow that."

"Actually, Vice Principle Doyle, I came here to find out if she would discuss any nightmares that she used to get with the school counselor," Buffy said.

"I used to be the school's counselor when Valerie attended school here and yes, she and I would spend at least an hour a week talking about those nightmares," Juanita said. "What does that have to do with her disappearance though?"

"I know that her nightmares were about demons and the night when she disappeared, she was performing witchcraft to summon one of those demons," Buffy said. Juanita gave Buffy a skeptical look. "Vice Principle Doyle, had Valerie ever described her nightmare demons to you?'

Juanita made a noticeable exhale before saying, "She described a few of them to me. Vampires were one. She was always victorious over her vampires so those dreams never really bothered her." Juanita saw a grin on Nichole's face. "In fact, she was victorious in most of her nightmares except for one reoccurring nightmare. That one nightmare was what distressed her the most. She would even have that nightmare if she would nod off in class."

"What demon was she fighting in that?" Buffy questioned.

"She described it as a fireball-throwing gargoyle," Juanita said.

Nichole gave a confused look before saying, "I thought gargoyles ward off evil."

"I haven't heard of a fireball-throwing gargoyle either, but we are only dealing with dreams," Juanita said. "Anyway, Ms. Summers, how is knowing about Valerie's dreams going to help find her?"

"It might not, but it did give me the insight to her state of mind before she done her spell," Buffy said. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"That's all I have," Juanita said. "Why are you looking for Valerie anyway?"

"She has been missing since last Halloween and I think I can find her," Buffy said.

"That response never really answered my question," Juanita said.

"I'm working on a project… not anything illegal and she has talents that I can really use," Buffy said. Juanita just gave Buffy a skeptical look. "And that's really all I can say. Anyway, thinks for the info. You were a big help."

"You're welcome," Juanita said.

As Buffy and Nichole were leaving the high school, Buffy pulled out her cell phone and called the others to let them know that she got the information.

Sunday, April 7, 2013 6:30 P.M., two hours before a female vampire had sired Dr. Julius Briers, Julius had entered the New Sunnydale Memorial Hospital to visit Jennifer (Jenny) Briers in the cancer ward.

Jenny was dying from cancer and had been hospitalized for several weeks. Her hair was gone and her skin color was pasty. She slept more often than she was awake. However, she was awake and was attempting to eat when Julius entered her room.

When Julius stepped in and saw Jenny's extremely feeble condition, he couldn't contain the words, "Damn it, Mom. You've been here for close to two months and two nights ago was the night you decided to indicate that in one of your emails to me."

As Julian stepped up to her bedside, Jenny said, "I know. I didn't want to worry you."

"You didn't want me to worry," Julian mocked.

"Julius, I'm dying," Jenny said. "I have only hours… possibly even a day or two left and you had more important things to do than sit with me and watch me die during the past few weeks."

"That was my option, mom, and you robbed me of it," Julius said.

"Well, I couldn't look at you with pity in your eyes during that time anyway; the guilt would have been too great."

"Guilt? What guilt?"

"I love you, Julius. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift than you as my son."

"I feel a but coming on."

Jenny slightly hesitated before saying, "You are my baby sister's son; not mine."

"You're my aunt and not my mom?" Julius quickly questioned. Jenny just nodded. "Is my mom dead?" Jenny just shook her head. "So she never wanted me and dumped me with you."

"That's… that's not what happened," Jenny said quickly as she could.

"You have been lying to me since the day I was born, so why should I believe you now?"

"Candice… Candice Wallace, your mother; my sister was raped weeks after her fifteenth birthday and became pregnant with you. When you were born I convinced her that it was for the best if I raised you as my son and for her to go back home."

Julius attempted to hold back his anger while asking through clinched teeth, "Where's my real mom?"

"She lives in the Amish community in Millersburg, Ohio."

"She's Amish?" Julius quickly questioned.

"Yes; I was even raised Amish. I left the community at seventeen." Jenny then told Julius how to find his mother.

Once he knew where to look for his biological mother, he said, "I got to get some air and digest what I've just learn."

As Julius was walking away, Jenny said, "I love you."

Julius stopped walking and hesitated for only a moment before leaving the room without responding. Within an hour Julius had casually walked to a park and sat down on a park bench. He was there for a short time when a woman joined him on the benched and flirted with him. The woman attempted to lure him into a more secluded area, but all Julius wanted to do was rant about what he had learned.

The woman finally got fed up with what she was hearing and interrupted him with, "Enough!" Julius gave her a slightly stunned look. "You obviously have misplaced rage and I'm going to give you the opportunity to channel that rage to where it belongs."

"What do you mean?" Julius asked as the woman changed into her vampire face. Before Julius was able to react to the sight, the vampire sank her teeth into Julius' neck. As she felt his heartbeat slowing down, she cut herself for him to drink her blood.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013, two hours after sunset in Millersburg, Ohio, Dr. Julius Briers knocked on the door belonging to an Amish couple. A man seventeen years older than he was opened the door.

"May I help you?" the man asked.

"I'm looking for Candice Wallace," Julius said as he stood on the porch.

The man slightly laughed before saying, "She hasn't gone by Candice Wallace since she was nineteen. Her name is Candice Burwell."

"Is Candice Burwell here?"

The man took a deep breath before saying, "She's washing dishes. And who are you?"

"I'm Julius. Julius Briers," he said. "Candice knew me a long time ago. Can I talk to her?"

"I'll take you to her. I'm Trent by the way… Candice's husband."

Julius remained where he was at and questioned, "So are you inviting me in, Trent?"

Trent gave him a curious look before saying, "Yes, I'm inviting you in."

Julius grinned before saying, "Excellent."

Trent continued to give Julius a curious look for a second longer before he turned towards the kitchen. As Trent led Julius into the kitchen, Trent said, "Someone's here to talk to you, Candice. His name is Julius Briers." Candice quickly turned towards Julius in a slightly stunned manner. "He says that you two know each other."

"He's Jenny's son… my sister's son," Candice claimed.

"Your sister who left the Amish community at the age of seventeen?" Trent questioned.

"Yes," Candice said. "When I was fifteen, I lived with Jenny for six months before coming home. Julius was born during that time. So how's your mother."

"She just recently passed away from cancer in New Sunnydale, California," Julius said. "I was with her during her last hours before her passing and during that time, she told me all about you. Would you like to know what she told me?"

Trent saw the nervousness in Candice's eyes before she asked, "Julius, can we talk in private?"

Julius grinned before saying, "My thoughts exactly."

Trent looked at them in a confused manner as Candice took Julius by the hand and led him out of the house. As Candice and Julius walked away from the house, Candice questioned, "So what did your mother tell you about me?"

"She told me that I was being lied to since the day I was born," Julius bluntly said. Candice gave Julius a slightly inquisitive look. "She told me how she wasn't my mother; my mother dumped me on her just after I was born."

"No-no, Sweetie, that's not true," Candice quickly said.

"You're my mother and you dumped me on the woman who I had called mother for thirty-five years," Julius again bluntly said.

"I had just turned fifteen when I was raped by a drifter. After I realized that I was pregnant I ran away to Jenny's house. It was Jenny's idea for her to raise you. I didn't dump you on her." Candice took hold of his hands before she continued to say, "I loved you since the day that you were born and I have always thought about you on your birthday, May 12." Candice glanced at Julius' hands. "Sweetie, your hands are cold."

"My hands and your heart have that in common."

"Julius, please give me a chance," Candice pleaded. "I swear, I'll make it up to you."

Julius took a deep breath before saying, "Okay, I'll give you that chance. Perhaps we should start with a heartwarming hug." Candice gave Julius a smile before giving him a hug. When Candice had her head pressed against Julius' shoulder, Julius took that opportunity to change into his demon self and sank his teeth into his biological mother's neck. He had her mouth covered to keep her from screaming out. As her heartbeat slowed down, he sired her. Once his mother fell limp, he cleaned up the blood and carried the body into the house.

When Trent saw the lifeless body, he blurted out, "What happened to her?"

"I must have shocked her with my news and she fainted," Julius said. "Is there a bed I can put her down on?"

"This way," Trent said as he turned towards the bedroom.

Julius carried Candice into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. Before moving away, Julius gestured towards the bite marks that he had left and asked, "What is this, Trent?" When Trent bent down towards Candice to look, Julius bit and sired him. Once he fell limp, Julius placed him next to Candice. Julius left the bedroom and found paper and pencil. He wrote out the note, "An emergency had come up and we had to leave. We'll be back soon." Once the note was written out, he fastened it to the front door and went back to the truck.

Julius drove in one direction on a main road until he came to a city outside the Amish community. Once in the city he searched for the right location to setup his headquarters.

Buffy and her group returned to the TEC headquarters before midnight and while it was still early by Buffy's perspective Buffy took Nichole and Amber out patrolling for a training exercise. During the two hours that they patrolled, they had located and dusted two vampires.

In the city that Julius had entered, Julius had searched for several hours before finding a suitable location at an abandoned warehouse with sewer access near an electric utility company. The warehouse was well covered to keep sunlight out during the day light hours. Once he parked the truck within the warehouse, he began unloading the equipment.

Thursday, April 11, 8:15 A.M in Washington D.C. Dawn, while carrying Hunter, entered the TEC headquarters. The reception area was of a moderate size with a reception's desk, twenty chairs and two coffee tables covered with magazines. Only six chairs weren't being use.

Dawn stepped up to the reception's desk and asked the lady at the counter, "Hi, I'm Dawn Carter…"

"Yes, Mrs. Carter, you are on the visitor's list," said the woman. She picked up a visitor's badge and handed it to Dawn. "Put this on and please have a seat. As soon as I announce your arrival, someone will be here shortly to escort you through the building."

"Okay," Dawn said. The receptionist got on the phone to report Dawn's presence.

Once Dawn fastened the badge to her blouse, Hunter pulled it off while saying, "I want to wear it."

Dawn gave Hunter a patient grin before saying, "You can be so much of a brat at times." Hunter giggled as he attempted to put the badge on. Dawn put her hand out to be handed the badge. "Sweetie, I think you need help attaching that to your shirt." Hunter hesitated before handing it back to Dawn. Dawn attached the badge to Hunter's shirt and then looked at the receptionist. "If you have an extra visitor badge I can use one."

The reception grinned before handing Dawn another badge. As Dawn was attaching the second badge to her shirt, the reception said, "You can have a seat. Someone will be here shortly."

Dawn grinned and nodded. Before she had the chance to walk away, she noticed a young woman stepping up next to her while asking, "Can you page Buffy Summers for me?" Dawn stood and watched.

"And your name is?" the reception asked.

"I'm Wendy Kolmar. Everyone… even Buffy knows me as Cat."

The reception handed her a guest badge before saying, "You can have a seat."

Cat nodded. When she turned towards the seats Dawn said, "I couldn't help hearing that you are here to see Buffy."

Cat faced Dawn and asked, "And you are?"

"I'm Dawn Carter, but my maiden name is Summers."

"Are you related to Buffy?"

Dawn grinned before saying, "She's my sister."

"Hi," Hunter blurted out.

"And this little not so shy person is my son, Hunter."

Hunter uttered out while leaning his head back against Dawn, "I'm Casper."

Dawn slightly rolled her eyes before saying, "He discovered Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons a few months ago and now he goes around the house while wearing an old ghost costume while saying, 'Look at me, I'm Casper.' Anyway how do you know Buffy?"

"She came to my job and we talked. She told me some very unbelievable things." Cat crossed her arms before continuing. "Since you're Buffy's sister perhaps you can tell me something."

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

Cat whispered to Dawn, "When Buffy and I talked, she told me that I had vampire slayer's characteristics…"

"Oh, you were a potential," Dawn quickly blurted out.

Before Cat had a chance to respond, the reception said, "Please take your conversation away from my desk."

"Of course," Dawn said.

"Sorry," Cat said just before she and Dawn moved away. Cat gently tugged on Dawn's free arm to steer her out of the reception area and into the lobby. Once in the open lobby Cat whispered, "What do you mean that I was a potential?"

"You're over twenty, right?" When Cat nodded, Dawn said, "Well, when you were a teenager, you could've been called upon as a slayer, so during your teenage years, you were considered a potential."

"So Buffy's not nuts after all?"

Dawn grinned before saying, "Well, the jury is out on that, but when it comes to slaying vampires and demons she knows what she's talking about."

Cat nodded with a slight grinned before questioning, "So what cause one potential slayer to be called upon over another potential slayer?"

"All I know it's random and a potential slayer can only become a chosen slayer from an instant death from the current slayer."

Cat thought for a second before saying, "Okay, I think I understand what you just said." Dawn grinned before starting a casual conversation. Hunter added his words from time to time.

Dawn and Cat waited for a short time before Buffy and Capt. Matuzek came off the elevators.

Dawn was facing the elevators and when she saw Buffy she gestured towards her. Cat turned and saw Buffy and Capt. Matuzek stepping up. Capt. Matuzek saw Dawn giving him a double take look just before giving him a curious look.

Buffy gave Cat a slight grin before saying as she gestured to who was who, "Capt. Matuzek, meet my sister Dawn, my nephew Hunter and Wendy Kolmar. Wendy goes by Cat and she was one of the people I've talked to, to join me." Capt. Matuzek saw Dawn shaking off her thoughts. "So, Cat, have you reconsidered?" Buffy reached out for Hunter to go to her. He went to her with a smile.

Before Cat had time to respond, Capt. Matuzek said, "Dawn, you looked at me funny when I first stepped up. Is there anything wrong?"

Dawn grinned and shook her head before saying, "It's rare, but sometimes when I first look at someone, he or she will look slightly different to me at first."

Buffy and Cat gave Dawn a curious look before Capt. Matuzek questioned, "Different how?"

"Well, for you for example. When I first glanced at you, I thought that I saw a diagonal scar across your face. Of course I see that you don't."

Capt. Matuzek used his finger and moved it across his eye from his upper nose to his left cheek while asking, "Was the scar here?"

"It was… how did you…"

"I'll tell you, but not here," Capt. Matuzek said as he gazed at the people within earshot of them. He then looked at Cat. "Cat, are you here to join Buffy's group?"

"I am," Cat said.

"Okay, you and Dawn can come with Buffy and me," Capt. Matuzek said. Buffy carried hunter while they walked to the elevator.

Once on the elevator, Buffy questioned, "I'm glad to have you with us, Cat, but what changed your mind about joining us?"

"When you went to my house looking for me, you had spoke to my Aunt Paula," Cat began. "Aunt Paula is my aunt through marriage and she had been looking for an excuse to kick me out for a year now and that night when I got home she kicked me out."

"I don't think I said nor did anything to get you kicked out?" Buffy quickly said.

"Aunt Paula doesn't need much of an excuse and she thinks that the only people who come looking for me are either the law looking to arrest me or criminals looking to include me in on their latest caper," Cat said. "I told her that all you did was offered me a legitimate job, but she doesn't believe that I would pass up a job like that."

"Are you here just because you got kicked out and have nowhere else to go," Buffy quickly questioned.

Cat shook her head before saying, "No, there are a couple places I could have gone, but those places would have kept me on a bad road that I'm trying to get off of. I chose to come here because here I think that I can turn my life around and do something that I didn't have to be ashamed of in ten years. I came here to do the right thing for once in my life."

Buffy gave her a pleasant grinned before saying, "Welcome aboard."

Cat grinned and said, "Thanks."

"Cat, I looked up your criminal record before Buffy asked you to join her, so I know that your record is somewhat… colorful; mostly with fighting and peace disturbances," Capt. Matuzek said. "However, while you're here, I do expect your record to be exemplary."

"Yes, Capt. Matuzek," Cat said.

Within five minutes they were walking into Capt. Matuzek's office. Once comfortable in their seats Dawn and Cat had taken the time to read over the nondisclosure agreement. Buffy had Hunter sitting on her lap. Once Dawn and Cat had signed the nondisclosure agreement Capt. Matuzek filled them in on what was happening along with telling them about one of Logan's mission into the past to the year 1980 to apprehend a time fugitive. During the mission, Logan had to correct a time shift that had occurred during the mission and he was the only one with the first hand knowledge of both realities. Logan's mission report was filled out in great detail and in the report he had indicated that Capt. Matuzek's face was scarred in the manner as Dawn saw it.

Once Dawn heard the events of Logan's mission, she said, "My god; I wonder if the different first appearance of people is caused by a residual effect from a time shift."

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "My thoughts exactly. I would also like to explore that possibility with you."

"How?" Dawn questioned.

"Well, most likely it will be impossible for me to test my theory about you, but so far your track record speaks for itself," Capt. Matuzek said.

Buffy saw the confused look in Dawn's face and said, "I had told him about that one repeating Saturday."

When Dawn grinned Capt. Matuzek said, "Dawn, I think you have an aberrant gift to detect time anomalies and I can really use someone like you at this facility; therefore, I would like to offer you a job… not as a TEC officer though."

"What kind of job are you offering me?" Capt. Matuzek went through a list of job fields. Dawn politely grinned before saying, "Well, I do have some computer skills, but I doubt I have the required skill to go into the IT field. I know I can handle secretarial work… except that I do live in California."

"Dawn. Buffy and her group are here on contract. Once Dr. Briers' threat has been neutralized that contract will end, but the job that I'm offering you will be a permanent one."

"Before I can accept any job here I'll need to discuss it over with my husband."

"That's perfectly understandable," Capt. Matuzek said. "Until you can give me an answer, you and Cat are free to go with Buffy."

"Yes, Capt. Matuzek," Dawn said.

Buffy stood up first with Hunter in her arms followed by Dawn and Cat. Before they had a chance to walk out, Capt. Matuzek said, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Hunter."

Hunter again said with laughter in his voice, "I'm Casper."

Capt. Matuzek grinned as Buffy asked Hunter while tickling him, "Should mommy change your name to Casper?"

Hunter was laughing from being tickled as Dawn said, "Buffy, you're so not helping me."

"It's cute that he wants be called Casper," Buffy said.

"Cute?" Dawn mocked. "Try living with it every day for the past month. I could strangle Willow for giving him those Casper DVD's and that ghost costume."

"It's just a phase," Buffy said. "Next month, he may want to dress up as a spotted dog and go around as one of the one hundred Dalmatians."

"Joy," Dawn sarcastically said. She then faced Capt. Matuzek. "Anyway, Capt. Matuzek, I'll get back to you as soon as possible with my answer." When Capt. Matuzek grinned and nodded Buffy, Dawn and Cat left the room.

Once in the hallway and the door to Capt. Matuzek's office was shut, Cat asked, "Dawn, how is it that you can detect time anomalies?"

"I had always suspected it has to do with me being the key," Dawn nonchalantly stated.

"You're a key? What do you mean?" Cat quickly questioned.

"Thirteen years ago, I was pure energy without form," Dawn again nonchalantly said.

Cat gave Dawn a skeptical look while asking, "What?"

"It's true," Dawn said. "As pure energy, I was the key to a hell dimension for this God known as Glory." Cat walked alongside Dawn while looking at her with shocked eyes and gaping mouth. "A group of monks were keeping me… me being the key away from Glory. When Glory broke into the monks' sanctuary, the monks gave me form… the form that I am now and placed me with the Buffy for protection. The monks even gave everyone memories of me being Buffy's sister."

"Please say you're joking," Cat said with a slightly bemused tone.

Buffy answered first with, "She's telling the truth and apparently she came to terms with that truth over the last thirteen years."

Cat asked in a timid tone, "Okay; where is Glory now?"

Buffy smiled before saying, "Glory is dead. The Scooby gang and I stopped her."

"You fought a God and survived?" Cat questioned.

When Buffy hesitated for the proper words, Dawn said, "Well, Buffy did survive, but her victory over Glory was short lived when she sacrificed her life to shut down the hell dimension portal that was opened during the fight. She was dead for three months before Willow, Xander and Anya resurrected her with a resurrection spell."

Cat asked in a dazed manner, "Are you two telling me the truth?"

Buffy smiled while saying, "We are, but perhaps I should tell you the whole story from the beginning so you won't look so shocked." Dawn took and carried Hunter as Buffy told the story.

Buffy led Dawn and the slightly dazed Cat into the office. Willow and Giles were there while researching demons while looking for Valerie's demon. When Willow saw them stepping in, she stepped up to Dawn while saying, "Hi, Dawnie." She reached out her hands for Hunter to go to her. "Hi, Cutie. Come give Aunt Willow a hug."

As Hunter was going to Willow, Buffy said while gesturing towards Cat, "Guys, this is Wendy Kolmar. She prefers to be called Cat though. Cat, meet Willow and Giles."

Cat said in a slightly dazed manner, "You two helped Buffy to defeat a god."

Willow glanced at Buffy while asking, "Is Cat okay?"

Buffy grinned while saying, "She will be. Dawn and I told her about Glory."

"Ah. That story is not meant to be heard by the weak," Willow said as Dawn and Giles were greeting each other with a hug. "Not that you are weak." Cat just politely grinned.

"Willow, I brought Cat in here so you can activate her slayer ability," Buffy said.

"Certainly, let me get my stuff," Willow said. She then put hunter down.

As Willow went to gather her things, Giles stepped closer to Hunter while saying in somewhat of a serious tone as he looked down at him, "Hello, Young Hunter." Hunter just looked up at Giles. "I have dozens of your photographs and now, at last, we finally meet."

"Giles, he's my nephew; not your long time nemesis," Buffy commented.

Giles slightly grinned before saying, "Of course. I didn't mean for it to sound as it did. Dawn and Brody were supposed to have brought Hunter to London two years ago, but they canceled weeks before the trip."

"We had to cancel because of that mischief demon going around and causing mischief with Brody's buildings," Dawn said. Cat gave Dawn a curious look. "We were going to remake plans to visit, but things had been chaotic at Brody's work to do that."

"There was no need to explain," Giles said.

"Dawn, you and Brody owns a lot of buildings?" Cat asked.

"The only thing that Brody and I own is our house," Dawn said. "When I said Brody's buildings, I mean the ones that he designed."

"Oh, Brody's an architect?" Cat questioned as Willow was placing the things on the desk. Hunter reached for one of the items that Willow had laid out, but Buffy grabbed his hand to stop him before he could grab the object.

"He and my father-in-law both are." Dawn noticed Willow was ready for the spell and took Hunter by the hand. "Well, Hunter doesn't need to be in here when Willow cast the spell, so I'm going to take him into the hall until you're done."

Hunter didn't want to leave and slightly fussed as Dawn made him go into the hall. When Dawn and Hunter were in the hall and the door was shut, Willow, Buffy and Cat performed the spell while using a cross necklace. Once the spell was done, Dawn reentered the room to help Willow and Giles on finding Valerie's demon.

Buffy and Cat went to join Xander, Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam in the gym to train. Hunter also went to the gym with Buffy and during the three hours that everyone was there Xander attempted to keep Hunter occupied off to the side while Buffy went through the practice moves with Nichole, Amber and Cat. However, Hunter wanted to mock the fight moves that Buffy and the others were doing. Dean and Sam just used the weights.

12:20 P.M., Buffy and her entire group were gathering in a quiet area of the lobby of the TEC headquarters to go to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Xander was holding Hunter. Giles, Willow and Dawn were the last ones to the lobby and as the three walked up, Buffy asked as she looked at Giles, "Any luck at finding Valerie's nightmare demon?"

"I'm afraid not," Giles said.

Sam stepped closer to Giles while asking, "Could it be possible that Valerie didn't summoned one?"

"Willow and I are confidant that she had summoned one," Giles said. "It's very possible that she had spawned a demon."

"What do you mean, she spawned a demon?" Dean was the first to ask.

"It's rare, but there have been cases of demons being created from incantations," Giles said.

"Great," Dean sarcastically said. "As if we don't have enough demons to hunt."

"It doesn't matter to me if this demon is one day old or is older than anything that I have faced before," Buffy said. "All I want to know is how do I kill it?"

"I like you attitude," Dean said. Buffy just gave him a grin.

"If the demon was molded after a gargoyle than I will go out on a limb and say that it can be killed in the same way as if it was a gargoyle," Willow said.

"Of course we're not certain of that, but we have no better theories," Giles added. "Dawn will also be the one to face it."

Buffy shot Dawn a disturbed look, while saying "Okay; that's a really bad plan."

"You did bring me in because I might be the one person not affected by the time anomaly," Dawn said

"I don't want you fighting any demons though… especially an unknown one," Buffy said.

"I have fought demons and vampires before," Dawn pointed out.

"And you almost died more times than I can remember because of demons and vampires so excuse me if I have a slight problem with you facing this thing," Buffy shot back.

Dawn crossed her arms before saying, "Well, if you have a better plan then I'm all ears."

"Buffy, if Dawn is impervious to the time anomaly as suspected then she is the only one who is capable to fight what awaits," Giles said.

"And to help Dawn, I can teach her some attacking spells," Willow said.

"Bringing you here is turning into a real bad plan," Buffy commented.

"Buffy, I will be all right," Dawn tried to assure her.

"And if it doesn't turn out all right, Hunter loses a mom. Brody loses a wife and I lose…" Buffy slightly choked up with emotions before she continued to say, "If something goes wrong, I'll lose you."

Dawn grinned before saying, "I love you too." Buffy grinned. "That time anomaly has to be corrected though and I'm the best shot you have. Buffy, I can do this. I know I can."

Buffy slightly nodded before saying, "If you get killed over this, I'm having Willow resurrect your corpse so I can kick you ass."

Dawn smiled before saying, "Deal."

Nichole waited a second and when nothing else got said, she questioned, "So is everyone ready to eat?"

"I'm ready," Xander said followed by the others. Once outside and walking to a restaurant, a casual conversation was brought up and discussed.

Buffy and her group were done eating within an hour. After paying for the meal everyone stayed together and went sightseeing. They went to the major tourist attractions along with visiting several museums. By the time they returned to the TEC headquarters the sun was about to set.

At Julius newly established headquarters, Julius had the time traveling device fully assembled an hour before dusk, but he lacked the power to activate it. For the final hour until dusk, he attempted to pass the time by double and triple-checking the assembly. Minutes before dusk, he got tired of rechecking the assembling and paced around like a caged animal. Once those minutes had dragged passed and night had finally fallen on the city, he left the warehouse in search for a power supply to activate the device.

Julius went to the main power plant by foot. While Julius was stealing the time traveling device a couple of days before, he knew that the surveillance camera had unavoidably caught his actions; however, this time he was cautious not to get caught on camera again. While sneaking about the power plant, he spotted a utility truck with spools of high power electrical lines. The truck was park in the view of the parking lot security camera.

Julius gazed around and when he was sure he was in the clear, he went up to the camera while approaching it at the camera's blind side and ripped it from its mount. He then dashed to the closest exiting door and waited for the security guard to investigate. Julius only waited for a short time when a guard came out; however, instead of killing the guard, he had only knocked him unconscious and then dragged his limped body to an unlit area.

After leaving the guard, he went directly to the utility truck, hopped in, hot wired the truck and drove off.

As the hours slowly passed, Julius had spliced into a high power line that was running near the warehouse. As he unrolled the cable, he would bury it two feet underground as he went. The circuit breakers to the time traveling device were switch off and Julius had no problems with hardwiring the power line to the device. Once everything was done, he activated the device and ran a diagnostic of its systems. The diagnostic only took thirty minutes and once it had passed the diagnostic test, he still had four hours of night left to go find someone to feed on.


	9. Chapter 9

Friday, April 12, 6:40 A.M., at the TEC headquarters, Buffy woke up from a terrible dream of two vampires going around turning people. The setting of the dream was of a town with no electricity or motor vehicles. Thinking that the dream was just a dream, she shook it off and got up.

Twenty minutes later in the cafeteria, Buffy sat down across from Claire with her food tray. Claire was reading the newspaper and when she heard someone joining her, she lowered the paper to look.

"So anything interesting in the news?" Buffy questioned.

"Not really," Claire answered. "It seems to me that the news stays the same and the only thing that changes is who commits the acts and where the acts been committed."

"So who was it this time… what and where as well?"

Claire grinned before saying, "Well, who is an unknown assailant, but what is a stolen utility truck from an electric company and a shaken up security guard with a large bump on his head. The where is in a city in Ohio."

"Is there anything in the paper about deaths associated with neck injuries?" Buffy asked as she saw Jack walking towards the table without a food tray.

"I haven't read through the entire paper, but I haven't come across any articles like that as of yet," Claire said as she saw Buffy's focus was behind her.

Claire turned to see what Buffy was looking at as Jack stepped up while saying, "Dr. Easter has detected a time disruption in the year 1886."

"What kind of disruption?" Buffy questioned.

"We don't know, but the computer is flagging it as a high priority," Jack said. "You and I are to change into the appropriate garments and go check it out."

Buffy stood up while saying, "So much for breakfast." Buffy then followed Jack out of the cafeteria. Within ten minutes, Buffy was wearing a dress for the era while Jack was wearing something that John Wayne would wear. All jewelry that were inappropriate to the 1800's that Buffy wore were taken off and put up until she got back.

June 10, 1886, in an open field outside Colorado City, Colorado, at 1:12 P.M., a shimmering vortex had formed and Buffy and Jack emerged from it. Buffy looked back from where she had come from and saw the vortex disappearing from sight. When Buffy looked at Jack she saw Jack using the small hand held device that was use to detect a time disruption.

Jack scanned in every direction before saying, "I'm not getting any reading so we might have been sent back a few hours too early."

"So where to, since we don't know where to go right now?"

"Dr. Easter did pick up the time disruption within the city itself so we should go there and wait. You can eat while we wait."

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy said before she and Jack took off walking towards the city. Buffy started a casual conversation during the walk.

Within a short time Buffy and Jack were walking through town. When they were approaching a saloon, a drunken man wearing a brown cowboy hat came out. When the man saw Buffy, he walked up to her while saying in his slurred speech, "Teresa… oh my god Teresa."

Buffy gave the man a confused look before saying, "I'm sorry, but…"

The man interrupted with, "You're not her. You do have her likeness. Are you her sister Becky?"

Buffy shook her head while saying, "I do not know Teresa or Becky."

"Are you related to the Greenfield family?" the man asked.

Buffy shrugged before saying, "It's always possible, but to be honest if I am related to them it will be more than five generations back."

"So you're not here for Katie?"

"Who's Katie?" Buffy asked.

"Katie is Teresa's daughter. My sister Karen… Karen Butler and her husband are caring for her until Becky can be reached."

Buffy gave the man a curious look while asking, "Did anything happened to Teresa."

"She and her husband left for Denver a month ago and went missing during their travels," the man said. "We don't know for certain, but everyone is suspecting the Indians who are evading capture by the cavalry had taken them. Anyway I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"That's quite all right," Buffy said. "Anyway my friend and I should get going."

The man tipped his hat while saying, "Good day to you two." When Buffy grinned and nodded he turned and walked away.

Buffy watched the man as he walked away. When he was out of earshot Jack asked, "Are you related to Teresa and Becky Greenfield?"

"It's very possible," Buffy said. "I did have a great-great… possibly even one more great grandma who was adopted and grew up around the Colorado City area. I learned about her from an old diary that my mom's mom used to own. I was twelve when I read a few pages from it and a week later, it was destroyed during a house fire. I can't remember her name; however, Greenfield doesn't sound right."

"Well, in case Katie is an ancestor of yours, you definitely need to stay away from her," Jack said.

"I guess I should have found out Katie's age before the man walked away," Buffy said. Jack gave Buffy an inquisitive look. "So I know which kids to avoid."

Jack pointed towards the hotel before saying, "There's always a restaurant inside the hotel."

Buffy looked and said, "Let's go."

Only six out of fifteen tables at the hotel restaurant were in use; however, five of the remaining nine had dirty dishes on them of when they were being use not too long ago. At one of the tables that were being used sat an adult couple and two girls who were eight and six years old and one boy who was also six. The customers at the other five tables were adults totaling eight men and five women. One waitress and one cook were the only two working the restaurant.

The waitress was picking up the dirty dishes when Buffy and Jack stepped in. The waitress paused at what she was doing long enough to tell them, "Take a seat at one of the clean tables and I'll be with you two in a moment."

As everyone instinctually turned to see who the waitress was talking to Jack said, "Will do."

Buffy saw the six-year-old girl staring at her in a slight awe as she and Jack moved to the closest available table. As Buffy was taking her seat she heard the faint sounds of the girl's whisper to the others at her table.

Buffy couldn't really make out what the girl was saying, but the others at the table look towards Buffy. After she and Jack took their seats, Buffy said, "People are looking at me as if I'm a ghost. I shouldn't be here."

Jack glanced around and quickly found the group that was making intermitting glances at Buffy. Jack turned back towards Buffy before saying, "You're not the first one to be in this situation nor will you be the last. So try not to worry about it."

Buffy nodded just before she glanced at the table with the girl. The girl was staring back. The woman at the table saw Buffy's uneasiness and told the girl, "Katie, it's impolite to stare." Before Katie had a chance to respond the woman stood up and walked towards Buffy.

Buffy and Jack watched the woman and as the woman stepped up, Buffy said, "A short time ago a man confused me with a woman named Teresa. I can't help to think that you and your group are too confusing me with her."

The woman grinned before saying, "We know that you're not her, but I did come over here to explain why you're being stared at by the young girl. The young girl is Katie Wesley." Jack saw a pleasing grin growing across Buffy's face. "Teresa… the woman who you very much look like, was Katie's mother. Teresa and her husband Nick Wesley left to go to Denver on May 12. They never made it to Denver and no one heard of them since May 12. Now that you know the situation, please excuse Katie's impolite stare."

"If I would see a woman who looks like my mother, I think I would stared too, so Katie's stares are understandable," Buffy said.

"Oh!" the woman blurted while slightly startling Buffy. "You're probably wondering who is this batty woman." Buffy just gave her a curious look. "I'm Karen Butler."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'm Buffy and the man next to me is my friend Jack."

"It's real nice meeting you both," Karen said.

"It's nice meeting you," Buffy and Jack said.

"Buffy, you wouldn't be related to Teresa by any chance?" Karen asked. "Her maiden name is Greenfield."

"Not that I know of," Buffy said as the waitress walked up to take the food order.

Karen glanced at the waitress before saying, "Well, Margo is here for you order, so I should go back to my table and finish eating."

"Bye," Buffy said.

"Bye," Karen and Jack said.

As Karen walked back to her seat, Margo told Buffy and Jack the specials. The choices were limited and after hearing what they were, Buffy and Jack ordered the fried chicken and water to drink.

As Margo walked away, Buffy whispered to Jack, "Katie is one of my ancestors."

"From that earlier grin across your face, I had a feeling that you had recognized the name Wesley," Jack said.

Buffy grinned before she hesitated to say, "Before graduating high school, Giles was replaced as my watcher by a man with the first name of Wesley. I didn't care for Wesley all that much and when he dropped out of my life, I tried to push the name Wesley from my conscious memory. I guess I did a good job because I forgot that I had ancestors with the last name of Wesley." Jack just grinned. Buffy then began a casual conversation while trying to ignore Katie's presence.

Within ten minutes Margo had brought out Buffy's and Jack's food. Karen and her group had finished eating and as they were walking towards the exit Buffy watched Katie. Just as Katie was approaching the exit, she looked back at Buffy. Buffy couldn't help giving Katie a smile. Katie smiled back before turning and walking out.

Jack had also watched Katie leave and just after Katie stepped out, a group of twelve men while dressed like desperadoes walked in. Jack had immediately recognized a man within the group and whispered to Buffy, "A time fugitive named William Tanner is part of that group." He then described which one was William for Buffy to hear.

"William must have been here for a while to become so chummy with the others," Buffy said while staring at the group. "So why didn't you detect a time disruption when we first arrived?"

"Our time detection device can only detect a change in the time stream," Jack explained as he noticed William and his group breaking into three smaller groups and going to three tables. "Anyone who goes into the past and stays out of time's way will not set off any alarms; which is why we are having trouble locating certain time fugitives. Anyway, after you eat, you need to go somewhere out of sight and return to our present."

"Are you sure?" Buffy quickly asked. "I mean, will you be all right here by yourself if that guy recognizes you?"

"We never met. I recognize him from a wanted bulletin, so I have the advantage."

"Okay," Buffy skeptically said.

"Oh and make sure that you report to Capt. Matuzek about who we found."

"All right." Buffy then took a bite of her food.

Buffy had finished her meal within ten minutes. She said her goodbye to Jack after standing up. As Buffy was walking across the floor towards the exit, Jack saw the lustful leers Buffy was getting from William's group. When Buffy stepped out and the door shut behind her, one of the men said something to his group that Jack couldn't make out. As the men around him laughed the man got up and followed behind Buffy. Jack immediately got up, threw the appropriate currency on the table and walked quickly to follow the man out.

Outside, Buffy had walked to the back of the hotel while looking for a place out of people's view. When she was certain that no one was looking, she activated the device that will return her to April 12 2013. The man who was following Buffy had turned the corner and saw only a glimpse of a silhouette of figure fading from sight. Jack came into view and saw the man backing away as if he had just seen a ghost. When the man turned and saw Jack, he quickly faced away as if he was embarrassed about his fearful actions. A slight grin came across Jack's face as the man walked towards the front of the hotel.

When Buffy appeared back in the embarking room, she told Capt. Matuzek about William Tanner. Once Buffy handover the device that had allowed her to return home to Dr. Easter, she was dismissed from the embarking room. As Buffy was leaving, Dr. Easter plugged the device into the computer in order to get a more precise time and place coordinates in order to send another time-cop to when and where Jack was.

Buffy had gone and changed back to her normal clothes. After leaving the changing room, she went and searched for her group. She found Giles, Xander, Amber, Nichole and Cat in a good size room while arranging the watcher's journals on shelves by dates and then locations. Tabby was perched on one of the many bare shelves while focused on the activity around him in a manner as if he was waiting for a mouse or a bird to be pulled out from one of the many boxes that were scattered around the room. Even more boxes were stacked almost to the ceiling against one of the walls.

When Buffy stepped in, she said, "So, this is where our library is going to be."

Everyone turned towards Buffy as Giles said, "It will be until we can get these journals type into the computer."

"Which will be the greater part of a decade," Cat commented.

Buffy grinned before asking. "Are all the Journals here?"

"Most are, but Willow and Dawn have several boxes at the office," Giles said. "They volunteered to begin typing them into the computer."

"Dawn is actually a quick typist so she could put a dent in these in a reasonable amount of time," Buffy said.

"I take it that your trip to the year 1886 didn't have anything to do with Dr. Briers," Giles said.

"You take right," Buffy said. "However, I did find out that I'm the spitting image of a grandma of mine who lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado during 1886."

"You ran into her?" Giles quickly questioned as Tabby hopped down from the shelf while moving closer to Buffy.

"I just met a couple of people who knew her," Buffy said as Tabby was rubbing against Buffy's leg. "Teresa Wesley, my grandma with I don't really know how many greats in front had left Colorado Springs on May 12, 1886 to go to Denver, but…"

Willow stepped in while interrupting Buffy with, "Amber, your brother is down in the waiting area."

"I'll go to him," Amber said as she moved towards Tabby. "Capt. Matuzek wants Tabby out of here anyway, so I better give Tabby to Harry for him to watch." Amber then picked up Tabby to be carried. "I'll be back."

In Lowkey's lair, Lowkey uttered, "I have to get more eyes and ears in that facility." He then communicated his plan with a human looking half demon that worked at a Chinese restaurant in the D.C. area.

At TEC headquarters, Amber, while carrying Tabby, was on an elevator. In the library, Buffy was recapitulating her short adventure to the year 1886 for Willow to hear. When Buffy was done, Willow said, "I would love a chance to meet my great-great grandma."

"Taking a chance like that could cause dire consequences," Giles said. "Buffy was right too ignore Katie."

"Giles, I get the feeling that everything is of dire consequences with you," Nichole said.

"Boy, she only knows you for a couple of days and she already has you pegged," Buffy said.

"By you going into the past to visit ancestors, you could cause a drastic shift within your family history," Giles said to defend himself. "You wouldn't have been born if you…"

"Giles, all I said is that she has you pegged; I never said that you were wrong," Buffy interrupted with. Giles just grinned as he calmed down. "In fact, I was scared to even make a move with Katie in the room; one wrong move on my part and I would have erased my history, my mom's history, her mom's history… and so on. Anyway, where are Dean and Sam?"

"Sam told Dean about a strange dream and then out the door they went," Willow said.

"They went hunting?" Buffy quickly questioned.

While everyone gave Buffy a curious look Cat was the first to ask, "Okay, how did you get, 'they went hunting,' out of 'Sam told Dean about a strange dream and then out the door they went?'"

"Sam gets psychic dreams about demon attacks and the only way they would rush out like that is if they were out hunting," Buffy explained.

"I forgot that Sam mentioned about getting psychic dreams about demons," Nichole said.

"Does anyone have a clue of where they went?" Buffy asked.

"Xander, you were there when Sam told Dean his dream," Willow pointed out.

"Well, I was there in the cafeteria with them, but I was really focusing on a hot looking secretary," Xander commented.

Buffy grinned and shook her head before questioning, "You don't remember anything that was said?"

"I remember Sam saying something about a hotel… then that hot looking secretary walked in and… well, you know the rest," Xander said.

"I wonder if they were referring to the Park Green Hotel," Willow commented. "

"Okay, Willow, start sharing," Buffy said. "What do you know of the Park Green Hotel?"

"I just know what was in yesterday's paper," Willow began. She then put up her finger for Buffy to wait while she thought. "Three men had committed suicide in one of the hotel rooms and each suicide had happened exactly one year apart to the date from each other. Tonight is again that anniversary date; however, this year that hotel room will remain empty. Oh and the hotel is only a few blocks from here."

"That sounds like a possible haunting," Xander commented. "Perhaps a possession haunting like we encountered in high school during our junior year."

"It does have those characteristics to it," Buffy said. "Okay, I'm going to Park Green Hotel and see if they might be at that haunted hotel."

"There are more hunted hotels?" Nichole asked.

Buffy shrugged before saying, "I don't have a list of haunted hotels, but I'm sure there's more than one. Anyway if Dean and Sam are going to be part of our gang, they can't just up and take off every time Sam gets a dream; even if it's a mile away."

Before anything else was said, Dawn walked in while carrying Hunter. When everyone looked at her, she said, "I just got the information that the time distortion in Twin Falls has grown beyond the house. The people who are keeping the house under quarantine had reported that a flock of birds flew in slow motion just a few feet above the roof."

"Well, we have arrangements for you and me to leave for Twin Falls in a couple of hours anyway," Willow said.

"True; I just thought you may want to know about it," Dawn said.

"Dawn, be careful and I'll see you when you get back," Buffy said.

Dawn gave Buffy a curious look before saying, "You'll probably see me again before I leave."

"I'm leaving though," Buffy said. "Chances are you and Willow will be gone before I get back."

"Ah," Dawn just said.

"Buff, do you want me to come with?" Xander asked.

"Aren't you the one who's watching Hunter while Dawn is away?" Buffy questioned.

"Yes; yes, I did volunteer for Hunter watching patrol, so never mind," Xander commented.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'll be back soon." She then turned and left.

Within fifteen minutes, Buffy, while being a passenger in a cab, spotted Dean's car in the hotel parking lot as she was being driven to the hotel entrance. Once the cab came to a stop she paid the driver and went into the hotel. She gazed around at the décor before stepping up to the reception counter.

Two men were working the counter and as Buffy stepped up, one of the men asked, "May I help you, Ma'am?"

"I'm looking for two men," Buffy said before describing what they look like.

"You're talking about the hotel inspectors," the man commented.

The man saw a hint of a grin on Buffy face before she said, "Yes, I'm supposed I am. Where can I find the two inspectors?"

"They're around somewhere. Should I page him?"

"Would it be alright if I search for them instead?"

The man hesitated before saying, "I'll allow it."

"Thanks," Buffy said. The man just nodded. "I do have an odd request." The man gave her an inquisitive look. "You wouldn't have yesterday's paper, would you?"

The man grinned before saying, "Actually, there is one that I pitched into the waste can. You want that?"

"As long as there is no food or drink all over it."

"It's sitting on top food and drink free. I'll get it for you."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Thanks." Once Buffy received the paper, she left the reception counter. As Buffy was walking to the elevator, she flipped to the article that Willow was referring about earlier. The hotel room 412 and the names of the three men who committed suicide were listed in the paper. In order they were Craig Donton, Timothy Bradshaw and Paul Gaylon.

Minutes later, Buffy approached the room 412. The door was locked and as she was about to try the door knob, a maid, who was a short distance down the hall, saw her and asked, "May I help you, Ma'am?"

Buffy faced the maid and said, "Oh, there is supposed to be two hotel inspectors walking around and I was actually looking for them."

Before the maid could answer, Dean and Sam stepped into the hallway from the elevators. They were behind Buffy and as the maid was staring at them, she questioned as she gestured, "Do you mean those two?"

When Buffy turned to look, Dean questioned, "Buff? What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you and Sam," Buffy said as Dean and Sam were walking towards her.

"How did you know where to look for us?" Sam questioned as Buffy was also stepping closer to them.

Buffy waited until all three were close to each before saying in a volume to where the maid couldn't hear, "Xander told me about that dream you had. And Willow thought that your dream had something to do with the yesterday's news article."

"What news article?" Dean quickly asked.

Buffy lifted the paper and pointed towards the article before saying, "This one."

Dean took the paper and read it allowed barely above the whisper. When Sam heard enough, he said, "We're searching for clues to my vision and all this time the thing that we were searching for was in yesterday's paper."

"So did you come to help?" Dean asked.

"You're helping me, so sure, I'll help you with your quest, but this is the very last quest that you two are galloping off to," Buffy sternly said. Dean and Sam gave Buffy a confused look. "You two are now part of a larger team and as long as this team is together, there are no individual quests. For now on, Sam, any dreams about attacking demons that you have will be discussed with the entire team and we will deal with it as a team."

"You have a superiority complex, don't you?" Dean asked.

"Dean, about an hour ago, Jack and I were sent back to the year 1886," Buffy said barely loud enough for Dean and Sam to hear. "Granted that it was a time fugitive and not a vampire, but if it was a vampire, you two would have been useless to me while off on your own quest if I would have needed you. And if I can't count on you two being available when I need you two then you two are wasting my and the rest of the team's time."

"Okay," Dean uttered. "You made your point."

"Good," Buffy said. Sam had the paper while reading the article. "Now I think that we are dealing with Craig Donton's ghost and he is reenacting his suicide by possessing individuals on the anniversary of his suicide."

"That's one theory," Sam said as he gazed at the continuing page of the article. He then looked at Buffy. "Oh and it's an excellent theory, but I don't think it is the right one."

"You have something?" Dean asked.

"I'm thinking that we might be dealing with Felicity Donton's ghost," Sam said.

"Who's Felicity Donton?" Buffy was the first to ask.

"She was Craig's wife and she died two hours before Craig committed suicide," Sam said. "The date April 12, the day they died, was also their wedding anniversary date and they were only married for two years. I think we are dealing with a revengeful ghost rather than a possessing one."

"Does the article say how Felicity died?" Dean questioned.

"It doesn't really say, but Craig did leave a suicide note and in that note he confessed that he was responsible for her death," Sam said. Dean took the paper and began reading it

"The possessing ghost that I encountered in my junior year of high school… well actually, it was two possessing ghosts," Buffy said. "When they were alive they were forbidden lovers; a woman high school teacher and her student. The teacher was attempting to end the relationship, but the student wouldn't let it end peacefully. The student shot and killed the teacher and then killed himself. The anticipation of a formal high school dance had awakened the two ghosts and they would possess two individuals to reenact the final minutes of their lives. Their reenactment played out a few times with a couple of fatalities before it stopped itself. And it stopped itself when the one who was killed forgave the one who committed suicide. So I'm not totally convinced that we aren't dealing with possessing ghosts."

"The paper does mention that Felicity has a sister," Dean said. "We should locate her and find out how Felicity had died. Maybe then we can figure out which ghost that we are dealing with."

"And how do we find Facility's sister?" Buffy questioned.

"The main public library is always a good place to start," Dean said.

"Let's find the library then," Buffy said as she gestured towards the elevators.

As they were walking towards the elevators, Sam questioned, "So, Buffy, what changed during the two ghosts' reenactment for the teacher to forgive the student?"

"The final stand-in to play the role of the teacher was a vampire," Buffy said. "I think the teacher chose him because he couldn't be killed by bullets."

"And who was the stand-in for the student?" Dean asked.

"You're looking at her," Buffy said with a slight smugness. "I was just about to commit suicide as the original student did when the possessed vampire stopped me. That was when the teacher forgave the student. You probably could imagine my and that vampire's reactions when the two ghosts left our bodies."

Dean grinned while saying, "I think I grew up in the wrong city."

Buffy gave Dean a grin as Sam told Dean, "You never grew up in any particular city."

"So what's your point?" Dean quickly questioned before pressing the button to call the elevator.

"I'm just pointing out that the longest we stayed in one city was about one year," Sam said.

"Well, if dad would have known about the hell-mouth we might have planted roots there," Dean said.


	10. Chapter 10

Buffy, Dean and Sam located Vicki Fox, Felicity Donton's twenty-five-year-old sister, within two hours of searching. They waited on Vicki's porch for only a minute after ringing the doorbell. Sam was holding the newspaper with the article on Craig Donton. Vicki opened the door to see who rung her doorbell. She glanced at all three before asking, "Yes; may I help you?"

"Are you Vicki, Felicity Donton's sister?" Dean was the first to ask.

"I was her sister, until…" Vicki got out before she stopped talking.

"Until what?" Sam questioned.

Vicki shook her head before asking, "Why are you three here?"

Sam held up the paper while saying, "We are here doing a follow up story on Craig Donton."

"We understand that your sister had died the same day that Craig had committed suicide, but the paper doesn't really say how she died," Dean added. "We are here to find out how she died."

Before Vicki was able to answer, Buffy commented, "Tact is not one of your strong attributes, is it?"

Dean was giving Buffy a smirk when Vicki asked, "Who actually are you three?"

"I'm Sam," he started before gesturing to the others. "He's Dean and she's Buffy."

Vicki gave Buffy a more focused look. Buffy saw the look that she was getting just before Vicki questioned, "Buffy? Buffy Summers… from Sunnydale?"

Buffy gave her a curious look before asking, "Have we met?"

"You attended my cousin's funeral… well second cousin's funeral about fifteen years ago," Vicki said.

"I attended a few funerals within that time frame," Buffy said. "What was your cousin's name?"

"Jenny Calendar." Dean and Sam saw the color drained out of Buffy before she started to fidget. Vicki saw it too and said, "Don't worry; I don't blame you for her death. You didn't know what would break Angelus' curse. Jenny didn't even know." Buffy just politely grinned as she caught the inquisitive stares that she was getting from Dean and Sam. "So why are you and your friends really here, Buffy?"

"Craig committed suicide on this date in 2010," Buffy began. "He left a note confessing that he was responsible for Felicity's death a couple hours before. In 2011 and then again in 2012 on this date another person committed suicide in the exact hotel room that Craig had committed suicide in. Dean, Sam and I are thinking that one or both of their ghosts are causing individuals to commit suicide in that hotel room on this date."

Vicki closed her eyes and slightly shook her head before mumbling, "Mom, you promised me that you wouldn't."

"What did your mom do?" Buffy quickly questioned.

"You three should come in," Vicki said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "Thank you."

As everyone were walking towards the living room, Vicki said, "I don't know for certain, but I have a feeling that ghosts are not to blame for those other suicides."

Sam saw a photograph on the wall of Vicki with her identical twin sister as Dean asked, "What is then?"

"My mom blamed Craig for Felicity's death," Vicki said as Sam gazed over the other photos on the wall. "Craig did too to a small degree. However, what happen to Felicity was just bad timing."

"What do you mean by bad timing," Dean said.

"Felicity had asthma… severe asthma," Vicki said. "We both did… well I still do."

"You and Felicity were identical twin," Sam said as he gazed at the photograph of the two siblings together.

"We were," Vicki said.

"I remember seeing you and your sister at the funeral," Buffy said.

Vicki grinned before saying, "No matter what the occasion is, I find that most people will remember the fact that there were identical twins at the event rather than remembering the individual." Buffy just politely grinned. "Anyway, Craig had gone to the drugstore for Felicity's asthma medicine along with a few other things that they needed. Felicity was cleaning and preparing for our parents' surprise anniversary party…"

"Your parents' anniversary?" Sam quickly interrupted with. "It wasn't Craig and Felicity's anniversary?"

Vicki glanced at the paper that Sam held before saying, "I'm guessing that you got that idea from the paper and the reporter had misquoted what was said. We called the editor, but he didn't see it worthy enough to correct their mistake with a retraction or reprint. Anyway, while Craig was at the drugstore he ran into Cindy, an ex-girlfriend of his whom he still had a burning flame for. My mom happened along and saw Craig and Cindy engrossed in their heavy discussion just outside the store. She zoomed to Felicity's house to deliver the news of what she saw and when she entered the house, she found Felicity passed out on the kitchen floor with an empty asthma inhaler. She immediately called 911, but by the time the paramedics got their, it was too late. Craig showed up within a very short time after the paramedics had declared Felicity dead at the scene. I showed up just after Craig did and I've never seen my mom so burning up with rage before like she was that day. I could tell that she had put Craig through the ringer. Craig actually was terrified of my mom that day and left. That was why he had checked into a hotel."

"Vicki, did your mom cast any spells against Craig?" Buffy said.

"As Craig was getting in his car, my mom yelled at him that she was going to curse him," Vicki said. "My mom usually stays away from that stuff, but I knew in her voice that she was serious. I thought that I had calmed her down because she promised me that she wouldn't crack open my grandma's books and cast her curse. Now from what you told me, I think she did it anyway."

"Vicki, we need to know for sure if your mom cast a curse," Buffy said. "Can you ask her to come here or take us to her?"

"Although I don't blame you for Jenny's death, my mom does," Vicki said. "My mom will never allow herself to be in the same room with you."

"Okay, I have to ask," Dean blurted out. "How did Jenny die and why are you being blame for it?"

"That story is long and it begins over a hundred years ago, but I'll try to keep it brief," Buffy began. "Vicki is a descendent of gypsies. Angelus, one of the most vicious vampires… if not the vicious vampire that walked the earth, had killed one of Vicki's highly respected ancestors. For revenge Vicki's other ancestors had put a curse on Angelus that restored his soul. By him being a vampire with a soul, he was good and forever tormented by his own guilt of his past killing spree. The only way to end the curse is a moment of pure happiness. The curse went as expected for decades. He changed his name to Angel and to eat, he lived off the blood from rats and what he could get from the butcher shops. Then in 1997 Angel and I both ended up in Sunnydale and our paths became intertwine. I was sixteen when we met. He knew that I was the slayer and at first he kept the fact that he was a vampire from me. We became friends… close friends before I knew that he was one. Once I learned what he was and that he had a soul, killing him wasn't even an option. Our friendship grew into a relationship. We fell in love with each other and because of that Vicki's relatives felt Angel's curse weakening. To find out why the curse was weakening, Jenny was sent to Sunnydale. In order to watch was happening between Angel and me she became a teacher in the computer lab at Sunnydale High. Then on my seventeenth birthday, I lost my virginity to Angel and in return, Angel had lost his soul."

"The moment of pure happiness," Dean commented with a smirk.

Buffy grinned and nodded as she continued to say, "Angel reverted back to Angelus and within the weeks that followed I had opportunity after opportunity to kill him, but I didn't… I couldn't. Killing Angelus would have meant killing Angel and I couldn't bring myself to do it. Angelus even saw that I couldn't and took advantage of it when he could. Jenny saw as to how distraught I was over Angel reverting back and took upon herself to again restore his soul. Angelus found out what Jenny was up to and killed her before she could perform the ritual. We didn't know what Jenny was even up to until after she was dead and by that time the thought of me killing Angelus was becoming more and more real to me."

"Did you kill him?" Sam asked.

Buffy put up her finger for him to wait as she continued to say, "Jenny had backed up the curse on a computer disk. Willow found that disk a few weeks later, so the hope in restoring Angel's soul was restored. Meanwhile, Angelus had found a way to suck everything on Earth into a hell dimension by awaking an ancient demon that was somehow changed into a statue, so the race was on to either kill Angelus or restore his soul before the demon could be awakened. Angelus completed what he needed to awake the demon first. I showed up within a minute or two later. While Angelus and I were fighting a fears battle, Willow was somewhere else performing the spell to restore Angel's soul. During my and Angelus' fight, I was about to take the final thrust to kill him. We were standing next to the demon and as I was rearing back to do so, his soul was restored. It was too late though. The portal to the hell dimension was opening. Angel was confused. He didn't know what had happened during the past few weeks. He was facing away from the portal and didn't even know that it was opening. So I kissed him. I told him that I loved him. I had him closed his eyes and then I ran a sword through his chest. Angel was suck into the hell dimension alone and once he was inside, the portal closed behind him."

"So he's in a hell dimension now?" Dean questioned.

Buffy shook her head before saying, "A few months later our time… centuries in the hell dimension's time, something had allowed Angel to leave the hell dimension. The First Evil took the credit for it, but I have my doubts of that was what brought him back."

"Where's Angel now," Dean asked.

"He's residing in Los Angeles," Buffy said. "He owns a detective agency that handles bizarre cases that involves the demonic or the supernatural."

"So Angel is good?" Sam questioned.

"Yes," Buffy said. "As to how vicious Angelus was, Angel is that equally good."

"It sounds as if the mirror realities are keeping the balance in check," Sam said.

Buffy gave Sam a curious look while asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well at the risk of sounding like a trekkie, Angel versus Angelus reminds me of the Star Trek episode 'Mirror, Mirror.' One reality was good while the alternate reality was as equally evil," Sam said.

Buffy thought for a second before saying, "Oh my god, Sam, that's it. What Valerie summoned was a gargoyle from a mirror reality."

"Please tell me that gargoyles aren't real," Vicki said.

"Oh, they're real all right, but they're not from our dimension," Buffy said as she pulled out her cell phone. "Every once in a while, one of them will stumble into a portal into our world… the same goes about us with other dimensions too. Sometimes someone will find themselves in a demon dimension."

"How many demon dimensions are there?" Sam questioned.

Buffy shrugged before saying, "Giles named off at least ten and after that, I pretty much stopped listening. I will go out on a limb though and say lots. And now with the theory on mirror dimensions, I'm even going to double that lots."

"Nice," Dean sarcastically said.

Buffy held up her cell phone while saying, "I'm going to call Giles and tell him about our new theory." She then dialed the number. Buffy was on the phone with Giles for a short time. While putting her phone away, she continued to tell Dean, Sam and Vicki, "Dawn and Willow had left for the airport already. Giles said that he would pass on our theory to them. Anyway, Vicki, I'm sorry for that long pause of our original discussion."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Vicki said. "I learn more of what happen in Sunnydale within these last few minutes than I have for the passed fifteen years."

Buffy grinned before asking, "Are you certain that your mom won't talk to me?"

"Besides being cousins, my mom and Jenny were close friends and my mom sees you as the person who allowed a good friend of hers to be killed," Vicki said.

"Buffy. Sam and I can handle it from here," Dean said.

Buffy nodded before saying, "Okay, but since I have no way back to TEC on my own, you'll have to drop me off first and then meet with Vicki's mom."

"Or Dean could drive you back, Buffy and Sam and I can go talk to my mom," Vicki said. All three gave Vicki a curious look. "I can drive Sam to TEC… whatever that is, when we're done."

"Why do you want Sam to go with you?" Dean quickly asked.

"He has a more innocent look to him; a look that my mom will be more willing to greet into her home," Vicki said. .

Sam slightly shook his head before saying, "Anyway, Dean, you don't like anyone other than you driving your car."

"That isn't a problem for Sam to come with me, is it?" Vicki asked.

Dean slapped Sam on the back and said, "You two crazy kids go and have some fun. Buffy and I will go back to TEC."

"Give me a minute to get my purse, Sam," Vicki said. When Sam nodded she walked away.

"Sam, you might not want to mention my name," Buffy said.

"I was thinking that myself," Sam said.

"Buffy and I will see you back at headquarters later," Dean said. When Sam slightly waved, Dean and Buffy left the house.

At TEC headquarters, the half demon that worked at the Chinese restaurant had carried four large bags of food to the lobby. When the receptionist saw him stepping in, she immediately asked, "What is the name on the order?"

"No name; samples," the half demon said. "You and your co-workers try it and order more next time."

The receptionist noticed of what restaurant he was from and said, "We have ordered from your place before."

"Then think of this as a complimentary meal for your company's continued service," the half demon said as he held up the bags.

"Okay," the receptionist said. "Put on one of the coffee tables." The half demon went to put down the bags. "Dr. Easter is the one to order from your restaurant the most so I'll call him."

After the half demon put down the bags, he stepped back up to the reception counter and said, "I know this is going to sound like a strange request, but can you tell the ones who will be eating the food that they are to read the fortune cookie allowed only after eating the food."

The receptionist gave him a curious look before asking, "Is there a reason for that?"

"My mother is very… very superstitions and she thinks that it is a bad omen to either read the fortune cookie before eating the meal or finishing the meal without reading the fortune," the half demon said. "I know that it is an eccentric belief that she has, but I do what I can to humor her."

The receptionist grinned before saying, "Okay, I will pass on your strange request."

The half demon slightly bowed before saying, "You're so kind." He then gestured towards the exit. "Well, I have other deliveries to make. Enjoy your food."

"Bye," the receptionist said before picking up the phone to call Dr. Easter.

Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Easter; three time-cops, Marc Koebbe, Maggie Stevenson and Blake Carlson along with three computer technicians Harry Stewart, Kenny Masterson and Brandon O'Conner were finishing their complimentary dinner in the cafeteria.

Marc Koebbe was the first to push his crumb-filled plate away and grabbed a fortune cook. After breaking it open for the fortune he read aloud, "May the eyes see and the ears hear without a shroud." The rest of the fortune was in a different language and he sounded out as to how he thought it would read. "Bliferus contorus elabra castorus crubria." When he finished all seven were overcame with vertigo for a brief moment.

In Lowkey's lair, seven more nine inch by nine inch picture frames with shimmering glasses materialized in front of Lowkey Lowkey recognized at what he was seeing in the seven picture frames was taking place in the same facility that Tabby was taken too when Amber had adopted him. One of the framed had glowed bright green for a moment. He smiled before saying, "Well, now; this is even better than I hoped for."

In the cafeteria, Harry said, "Okay, I had a strange sensation come over me for a second."

"So did I," Dr. Easter said followed by the remaining five.

"Could it be a reaction of the food?" Marc asked. "It did have a funny taste to it."

"It wasn't a bad taste though," Harry said.

"Well, right now, I feel all right," Dr. Easter said. "So unless the sensation returns I'm not going to worry about it."

"Well, I'm keeping a sample of this food for the doctor just in case," Blake said.

On the first floor of the facility, Buffy and Dean had stepped into the elevator. The door was closing as Buffy pressed the button to go to the sixth floor. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor and when it opened, Jack was waiting to get on.

As Jack stepped inside, Buffy asked, "So how did things go after I left you?"

"It went as well as expected," Jack said as the elevator door shut. "We captured William Tanner in time."

"Good," Buffy said.

"In case you care to know, Buffy, Karen Butler found out after you had left that Becky had died from smallpox two months before Teresa had gone missing," Jack said. "Since Katie had no living relatives, Karen started a petition in order to adopt her."

"Who are Karen, Teresa, Becky and Katie?" Dean asked.

"Katie and her mom Teresa were my direct ancestors from the late 1800's," Buffy began. "Becky was Teresa's sister and Karen would be Katie's adopted mom. So what was William doing?"

"He was planning to rob a train that was carrying a good sum of money," Jack said. "The gang that he hooked up with was going to rob the train anyway, but they didn't know about the money and it was originally missed during the robbery. If fact the train robbers didn't really get away with much with no fatalities. Gordon and I made sure it went as it was supposed to have."

"When the time comes to face Dr. Briers' time traveling minions, I hope I can say the same thing," Buffy said as the elevator stopped on the sixth floor and opened up.

"I'm sure you and your group will do just fine," Jack said at they stepped off the elevator.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I appreciate your confidence in me and I hope I don't let your down."

"I don't see that happening," Jack said. "Anyway, I still have a report to file. I'll see you guys later.'

"See you," Buffy and Dean said. Jack then went one way as Buffy and Dean went the other way.

Giles, Amber, Nichole and Cat were in her group's library while putting books on the shelves. Over two-thirds of the shelves had books on them while only one-sixth of the books were put up.

When Buffy and Dean stepped in, Buffy questioned, "How goes it?"

"We're running out of room and fast," Nichole was the first to say.

"I'll talk to Capt. Matuzek about getting more space," Buffy said. "So where are Xander and Hunter?"

"Xander took him to a fun zone," Giles said.

"He said something about wearing him out?" Cat added.

Buffy grinned before saying, "That's what he wants you to believe anyway. He actually likes taking Hunter to the park and the fun zones more than he'll admit to. Anyway, Giles, did you get a chance to research my theory on mirror dimensions?"

"I called an expert about it…" Giles was only able to get out.

"There are experts on mirror dimensions?" Buffy quickly questioned.

"Well, not about mirror dimensions per se, but with other dimensions," Giles said. "The person I spoken with was Prof. Sarah Green of Oxford University. When she was a student at Oxford, her professor and mentor Prof. Hill was slightly obsessed with the idea of negative dimensions… the mirror dimensions." Buffy just gave him a polite grin. "Anyway, Prof. Hill went public with his theories and it ruined him over it."

"So in short, no one other than Prof. Hill believes in the mirror dimension theory," Buffy said.

"Or at least no one else had the courage to stepped forward with it," Cat said.

"Does it really matter where the gargoyle is from?" Nichole asked.

"Knowing where it's from might help to know how to kill it," Buffy said.

"Well, if the gargoyle is from a mirror dimension than Willow was right about how to kill it and Dawn won't be going in blind after all," Giles said.

"So we really have nothing new to go on," Buffy said. "Anyway, Giles, do you need Nichole, Amber and Cat?"

"I can finish up here, if you want to go to the gym and train," Giles said.

"Finally," Nichole said with a slight excitement in her voice. Giles gave her a curious look. "Oh, not that putting up books is…"

"It's incredibly tedious and I fully understand," Giles said. "In fact, you three stuck around much longer than I expected. So go; I'll be good alone."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Cat said while putting down the books that she had.

"Try to have fun," Buffy said before everyone left the room while leaving Giles alone.

In Germantown Maryland, Vicki and Sam stepped up to the door of Vicki's parents' house. Sam was carrying the newspaper. Vicki was the one to ring the doorbell and when a woman answered the door, she said, "Vicki, this is an unexpected visit." She backed up and gestured for Vicki and Sam to come walk in. "Who's your friend?"

"He's Sam," Vicki said as she walked in followed by Sam. "Sam, my mother, Miranda Fox."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fox," Sam said as he followed behind Vicki and Miranda.

"Likewise," Miranda said as everyone was stepping into the living room. She gestured towards the couch. "Please have a seat."

Vicki and Sam each took an end of the couch and sat down as Miranda sat in a chair. Vicki slightly fidgeted before saying, "Mom, I'm going to ask you something that you might have done three years ago and I need you to tell me the truth."

"Okay," Miranda said in a skeptical tone.

"Mom, we need to know if you had put a curse on Craig the night when Felicity died."

"Vicki, I promised you that I wouldn't curse Craig and I didn't," Miranda insisted.

"Did you curse the hotel or the room that he was staying in?" Sam asked.

Miranda looked between Sam and Miranda while saying, "Who exactly are you, Sam, and why are you two questioning me about this?"

Sam held out the paper for Miranda to take and said, "In 2011 and then again in 2012 on this date a person had committed suicide in the exact hotel room that Craig had committed suicide in during 2010."

As Miranda took the paper, she said, "My question was a two part question and you never answered the first part."

"Mom, Sam and his brother are demon hunters," Vicki provided the explanation. Miranda looked at the article. "He and his brother first thought that it was either Craig's or Felicity's ghost. Or even both. He and his brother came to me to find out how Felicity died. I told him. I then told him about how you wanted to put a curse on Craig."

"Sweetie, I do understand why you and Sam are here, but I never put a curse on Craig or the hotel," Miranda said.

"I need you to tell me the truth, Mom," Vicki said.

"Sweetie, I am telling you the truth," Miranda said as she looked Vicki in the eyes.

"That puts us back on the ghost theory," Sam said as Vicki saw her mom in deep thought.

"You're remembering something, mom. What is it?"

"The night when Felicity had died, a female cop had stopped me for running a stop sign while I was driving home. I was distraught and my mind wasn't really there. The cop knew what I was going through. At first I thought she was at the scene while the coroner was claiming Felicity's body, but later that night it dawned on me that she wasn't there. Instead of her writing me a ticket she talked to me for a short time. At the end of our talk I told her that I wanted him to be consumed with guilt. She smiled before telling me not to do anything rash and then left."

"Mom, could the cop have been a vengeance demon?"

"Vengeance demon?" Dean questioned.

"A demon that inflicts vengeance on people in an individual's behalf," Miranda said. "And yes I do. I even thought that after I heard about Craig committing suicide, but I pushed that thought away. I don't know how the other two ended up dead though."

"Mom, do you remember the exact words that you used in front of her?" Vicki questioned.

"Sweetie, I actually consider myself lucky to remember as much as I told you," Miranda said.

"Mrs. Fox…" Sam was able to get out.

"Please, call me Miranda," she said.

"Okay," Sam said. "Miranda, what can you tell me about a vengeance demon?"

"Vengeance demons go where the desolate cries of anguish are heard the loudest," Miranda began. "They are normally woman… perhaps always women; I don't really know for sure. Anyway, she'll pretend to give you a shoulder to cry on and listen as to how someone had done you wrong until you tell her in what horrid manner that you want a person to suffer in. She will then grant that wish."

"Lovely," Sam sarcastically said. "Killing the demon usually ends the curse or wish, so you wouldn't know how to summon the demon, would you?"

"As far as I know you can't summon a vengeance demon," Miranda said. "They go to you and they are only attracted to genuine cries of anguish."

"If we can't break the wish that you made then that hotel room will be forever cursed on April 12," Vicki said.

Without thinking, Sam said, "Perhaps Giles has…"

"Giles? Rupert Giles?" Miranda quickly questioned as she stood up.

Sam slightly fidgeted before saying, "Yes. You heard of him?"

Sam knew that Miranda was holding back her rage while saying, "You must know Buffy Summers if you know Rupert Giles."

Sam slightly hesitated before saying, "Ye… w-we met… fairly recently."

"Because of her I lost a good friend and a cousin," Miranda said.

"I know about Buffy being the slayer and I'm sure that when a vampire or demon gets by her and takes a life, she feels terrible about it," Sam said. "I know I feel terrible for weeks when a demon gets by me and takes a life."

"Getting by her is one thing, but allowing it to get away time and time again is another thing," Miranda said.

"Miranda, I must confess that right before coming here, I was told about what happened between your cousin Jenny, Buffy and Angel… or Angelus," Sam began. "It wasn't all that many years ago that my brother and I were in a similar situation. I was supposed to have been a demon soldier that could turn evil in a blink of an eye. I begged my brother to kill me a few times before that could happen, but he refused. He never gave up on me. Buffy was like that with Angelus. She knew what he was, but she kept the faith that he could be saved. She had to because if she had lost hope in saving Angelus, she would have lost hope on why she was fighting demons in the first place."

"Jenny is dead because of Buffy," Miranda said angrily with clinched teeth.

"And there are people dead because of me who were cousins, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters and so on to other people," Sam retorted. "I remember every mistake that I've made from the very beginning that had cost a life and I have to live with those mistakes for the rest of my life. Every demon hunter out there can say that; including the slayer. All we can do is hope that we learned from those mistakes and become better hunters because of them."

Miranda grinned before saying calmly, "I like you, Sam. I cannot forgive Buffy though."

"Miranda, if you would only…" Sam was only able to get out.

"Sam!" Miranda interrupted with. "Stop while you're ahead." Sam just politely grinned. "Anyway, I can't give you any more information on vengeance demons."

Sam stood up before saying, "Well, Giles do have an impressive collection of books on demonology. Perhaps he can help."

Vicki was standing as Miranda said, "I can tell that you trust Buffy, but I do advice you to watch your own back around her."

When Sam just politely grinned, Vicki said, "I better drive Sam back." She and her mom then kissed each other on the cheek. "I'll call you later."

"Bye; bye, Sam. It was nice meeting you," Miranda said.

"It was nice meeting you, Miranda," Sam then turned and followed Vicki out. Once outside and the front door were closed, Sam said, "Well, that went okay in spite that she knows I'm associated with Buffy."

"You were honest with her," Vicki said as they were walking towards Vicki's car that was parked in the driveway. "As long as you are honest with her and that you are a good-hearted person, she will treat you well." She continued to say with a smile. "But watch out if you piss her off."

Sam smiled while saying, "I know a few people like that."

Nothing else was said as they walked to the car. Once in the car, Vicki said before starting it, "Sam, I would love to know how things end with this vengeance demon situation. So can I give you my number… and you can call me about how it ends."

"Sure," Sam said. Vicki smiled as she started the car, but left it in park. "Would it be all right if I call you for other things too; like to ask you to lunch?"

Vicki gazed at Sam with a smile while saying, "I would like that."

"Great," Sam said.

"Oh, but Saturdays and Sundays are the only two days that I'm not working… except for today of course," Vicki said. "I took off today to have my teeth clean. In fact I've been home for about ten minutes when you, Buffy and your brother rang my doorbell. I wouldn't have been there though if I was working. Okay, now I'm slightly babbling."

Sam grinned before saying, "It's okay. I don't mind it." Vicki grinned. She then put the car into reverse and began backing out of the driveway. "Since Saturdays and Sundays are the days you can go to lunch; how about tomorrow?"

"Okay; It's a date," Vicki said. Sam just grinned. After backing into the street, she stopped, put the car into drive and drove away. "Sam, obviously I'm no demon hunter, but I do know about them… mainly that they exist. I definitely don't want to fight hand to hand with one, but if you ever need help while fighting a demon… like with researching on how you can kill it or anything other than fighting hand to hand, I wouldn't mind helping."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sam and Vicki were quiet for only a brief moment before Sam asked, "What do you do? As for work I mean."

"I'm a first grade school teacher," she said. "What about you, Sam? If you weren't out hunting demons, what would you be doing?"

Sam smiled before answering with, "Once upon a time, I had an idea of going into law. I've even took courses towards that career, but then fate interfered and I was pulled back into the life of hunting demons."

Vicki grinned and said in a playful tone, "Yeah, I heard that fate is the nastiest demon of them all." Sam just grinned. "So let me know who Sam is."

"What do you want to know?"

"You can start with your last name and then you can move on with anything that you're willing to share."

Sam took a breath before telling Vicki his last name. He then continued with things about himself.


	11. Chapter 11

At TEC headquarters, Giles had called a group meeting after finding out from Sam that the deaths at the hotel might have been caused by a vengeance demon. Except for Willow and Dawn who were on their way to Twin Falls, Buffy's entire group was gathering in one of the smaller conference rooms that had a hard floor. A small box was sitting on the table. When Buffy saw Sam, she asked, "So, Sam, how did things go? Was Vicki's mom responsible for putting a curse on the Park Green Hotel?"

"Miranda, Vicki's mom, says no, but she thinks it might have been a vengeance demon," Sam said as everyone was getting settle in his or her seat.

"Which is why I called this gathering," Giles said just before he shut the door to the room.

Xander said as he held Hunter in his lap, "It's been almost a decade since I heard the phrase 'vengeance demon' and I could have gone another five decades without hearing it."

"Vengeance demons are that rough?" Dean questioned.

"Not really," Xander said. "I use to date one… although, technically she was an ex-vengeance demon at the time."

"I definitely grew up in the wrong city," Dean muttered barely loud enough for the group to hear.

Buffy again gave Dean a grin as Sam asked, "Buffy, why didn't you warn me that Miranda knew Giles as well."

"Miranda knows me?" Giles was the first to question.

Before Sam had a chance to respond, Buffy asked, "Oh God, does she knows about me too?"

"Yes to both of your questions," Sam said.

"I hope Miranda wasn't rough on you," Buffy said.

"Not at all," Sam said. "In spite that I know you, she likes me."

Buffy gave Sam a confused look before saying, "That's… great. Did she tell you anything about me?"

Giles asked before Sam could answer Buffy's question, "Who's Miranda and how does she know Buffy and me?"

"She's Jenny Calendar's cousin," Buffy answered. "Felicity and Vicki were the twins who we saw at Jenny's funeral."

"Ouch," Xander said as Giles pulled off his glasses with a mournful expression on his face.

"No ouchi," Hunter said.

"I wasn't meaning you, Hunter O'boy," Xander said.

"Who's Jenny," Cat asked.

"She's someone I dated when Buffy attended high school," Giles said. "Buffy can go over the details of how she died later out away from my presence." Giles put his glasses back on. "We have a vengeance demon to summon and we have to do it before another Park Green Hotel guest commits suicide."

"Do we have what we need to summon one?" Buffy asked.

"I've checked and Willow does," Giles said as he began pulling the items from the box. "Also when I summon her I'm going to use that modified spell that Willow came up with."

Buffy nodded to Giles as she said, "Xander, you need to take Hunter somewhere that's not here."

"Why should we leave," Xander quickly asked.

"You mean besides the fact that Dawn doesn't want Hunter around spells and will kill the person who had volunteered to watch him if he is around it?" Buffy pointed out.

Xander stood up with Hunter and said, "I knew you couldn't come up with a good reason." Buffy just grinned. "We'll be somewhere away from here."

When Xander left with Hunter, Giles had the table and chairs moved to one side of the room. He then drew the appropriate symbols on the floor. Once that was done, he began setting up the candles. After a few minutes of watching, Dean asked, "Have you summoned a vengeance demon before?"

"I have, but it has been a while," Giles said. "Anya, the ex-vengeance demon who dated Xander showed Willow and me how?"

"So what should we expect?" Nichole asked.

"In two minutes or so you will see for yourself," Giles said as he lit the candles. He then gestured to an area on the floor away from the symbols. "Everyone stand back from this area and be quiet." Once everyone had stepped back, he chanted the incantation.

Within five minutes, a vengeance demon appeared before them with a demon face. She wore a pendant around her neck. The demon gazed around before settling her eyes on Giles while demanding, "You dared to bring me forth? I can bring vengeance on you for this…"

"Stow it," Giles quickly said. "I know what you can and can't do. And I summoned you to find out which bloody vengeance demon that had cast vengeance against Craig Donton three years ago."

The demon changed into her human face before giving Giles a smile and saying, "You're looking at her. The name's Zoey and you are."

"I'm Rupert Giles."

Zoey quickly glanced around at the others before saying, "You're the slayer's friend."

Buffy slightly raised her hand while saying, "I'm her and the name's Buffy."

"I know all about you people and you are unhealthy for vengeance demons," Zoey said.

"Then tell us what we want to know and you can be on your merry way," Buffy said.

"Fine; what do you what?" Zoey asked.

"What did Miranda Fox asked for as vengeance against Craig and how do we stop it?" Giles asked.

Zoey grinned while saying, "I know why you're asking and you can't stop it. It will stop itself in seven years though. As far as her wish, she wished that a man with the name of Craig who is at the Park Green Hotel would be tormented by suicidal guilt every year on this day for the next ten years. I can't help it if people don't choose their words correctly."

"So the hotel room 412 has nothing to do with anything?" Sam questioned.

"That was my doing," Zoey said. "I thought it added something to the curse."

"Well your curse is flawed," Buffy said. "Timothy Bradshaw and Paul Gaylon were innocent."

"They definitely weren't innocent or they wouldn't have anything to feel guilty about," Zoey pointed out.

"Their names weren't Craig though," Giles stated.

Zoey grinned before saying, "I believe Timothy Craig Bradshaw had fallen within the curse's requirements."

"I guess Paul's middle name is Craig also?" Cat asked.

"Actually it's Francis, but Gaylon isn't his real bloodline name," Zoey said.

"Let me guess," Buffy said. "His biological father's last name is Craig."

"A point for the slayer," Zoey said mockingly. "His name was Craig by default and he was chosen because he was the only Craig staying at the hotel at the time. Unlike today though; today there are six Craigs at the hotel."

"Crap!" Buffy blurted out. "Giles, you stay here and reason with her. Everyone else is with me."

"Wait," Giles said as he reached out and grabbed Zoey's pendent. "Destroying her energy source will end this curse."

"No," Zoey yelled out just before Giles threw on the floor and stomped on it while smashing it. "That was a family heirloom and if I can cast vengeance in my own behalf I would turn you into a demon toad."

"That wasn't your energy source?" Giles questioned.

"No; it wasn't," Zoey said angrily.

"Oh, sorry," Giles said.

Before anything else was said, Jack opened the door while saying, "Buffy, you and your group are up." He then paused at what he was seeing. "What's going on in here? Who is she and why is she here? And what is with the symbols and candles?"

Buffy crossed her arms while asking, "Okay, which one of those questions should I start answering first?"

Jack gestured towards Zoey while saying, "You can start with her. Who is she and why is she here?"

"I'm Zoey, Jack Logan," she said.

"How do you know my name," Jack said.

"Through your ex-girl friend, Amanda," Zoey said. "She wanted empathy from you and wished that you know what it was like to be late for everything for one month. Personally, I would have wished you into some kind of beast, but she had a soft spot for you."

Jack looked at Buffy while asking, "What is she talking about?"

"Zoey is a vengeance demon," Buffy said.

"A vengeance demon?" Jack mocked in disbelief.

"She's here because we summoned her here," Buffy added. "She had put a curse on the Park Green Hotel and we summoned her to find out how to stop it."

"You can't stop it," Zoey said. "Now if you excused me I'll be leaving now." She then attempted to leave and failed. "Okay, why am I still here?"

"The spell that I performed was to summon you here and to hold you in this room until I released you," Giles said.

"I can always walk out," Zoey said.

Giles gestured towards the door while saying, "You're welcome to try."

Zoey looked at the door in a longing manner for a few seconds before asking, "Okay, what kind of spell did you do? I want to walk out, but I can't motivate myself to even do so."

"It's a slightly modified spell similar to the one that a vengeance demon had used on us thirteen years ago," Buffy said. "Well, actually, I'm the only one from that particular group who is here at the moment, but you get the meaning."

"You are a vengeance demon?" Jacked asked while still in a slight awe over the situation.

"Jack, Sweetie, that's old news; try to keep up," Zoey said.

"Those few weeks when I couldn't get at least one of the five alarm clocks that I bought to go off at the time I needed it to go off along with the other occurrences that kept me from being on time was because you cursed me?" Jack asked.

"Amanda was the one to wish that on you; I was just the one to grant the wish," Zoey said.

"Amanda broke up with me because I was late to a very important business dinner at her job," Jack angrily said.

Zoey smiled and said, "Ironic isn't. She was anguished because of how you were getting on to her about her tardiness and she dumped you over yours."

Jack said through clinch teeth while trying to calm his anger, "Buffy, can I see you in the hall please."

"Giles try to reason with her," Buffy said. "I'll be back in a minute."

Buffy followed Jack into the hall. After the door was closed behind them, Jack gestured towards the conference room door while saying, "You don't have time to play magical jail keeper to a vengeance demon. Dr. Briers caused a time disruption disturbance in England in the year 1112."

"How do you know it was Dr. Briers who caused it?" Buffy asked.

"There maybe three time traveling devices, but only two of them is capable of generating enough power to send a person back in time for more than two hundred years," Jack said.

"The one that Dr. Briers has and the one in this facility," Buffy commented. Jack just gave her a smile to acknowledge her statement. "So how far can the two devices send someone?'

"Dr. Briers has the most powerful one and if he could somehow get the power that he needs, he could go back before Christ himself was born," Jack said. "Tapping into that much power would alert us to where he's at though, so I doubt that he would attempt that."

"Unless we get too close for comfort and he gets desperate."

"Let's hope that he'll never get that desperate. Anyway, we can send four of you back, so go grab your team members."

"Okay," Buffy said. She then reentered the room followed by Jack. "Amber, you're with me. You and I have a vampire to locate and kill."

"What about the rest of us," Cat asked.

"I need you, Nichole, Dean and Sam to get to the Park Green Hotel and do what you can to prevent those suicides," Buffy said. "Giles, I need you to do what you can to get Zoey to end that curse."

"Why don't we just kill Zoey and end the curse that way," Sam asked.

"Killing her won't do it," Giles said. "The only two ways to end a vengeance demon's curse is to either destroy her energy source which is normally a gem of some kind or reason with her to end it."

"Something tells me that reasoning with her is out," Sam said.

"Give me ten minutes alone with her to administer my type of vengeance on her and perhaps then she would be reasonable," Jack said.

Buffy gestured towards Zoey while saying, "Demon is much stronger than Jack. Can crush Jack into powder."

"Okay, I'll stay out of it," Jack said. "You need to get out of it too. You have a vampire to go after."

"Okay, everyone knows what needs to be done," Buffy said. "Amber, you're with me." Except for Giles and Zoey everyone left the room.

Buffy was the last one out and was walking right behind Dean and Sam. Sam got out his cell phone and a piece of paper with a number on it. Dean saw Sam with the phone out and before Sam was able to dial it, Dean asked, "Who are you calling?"

"Vicki," Sam said. "I got her number plus a lunch date for tomorrow." Dean just gave him a grin. "She expressed a desire to help us and I think she can help… with this anyway."

Buffy heard what was said and put her hands on Sam's shoulder while saying, "I'm not trying to be a buttinsky, Sam, but you really need to be very hesitant before involving Vicki. If something would happen to her, I really don't want to find out what her mom will do."

"She won't be in a life or death situation while helping us out at the hotel," Sam said.

"And Jenny got started by helping out with non-threatening situations and you know how that turned out," Buffy said.

"Well, I've been a hunter long enough to know when not to involve Vicki," Sam said.

Buffy politely grinned before skeptically saying, "Okay, but I did warn you before hand."

"Your conscience is clear," Sam said. He then dialed Vicki's number. When Vicki picked up, Sam told her what was going on.

After the group reached the intersecting hallways Buffy, Amber and Jack went one direction while Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat went another direction.

On October 19, 1112, in a wooded area on the edge of a moderate size town for its time, Buffy and Amber emerged from a shimmering vortex two hours before dusk. They were both dressed in medieval type dresses. Buffy was also carrying a bag of slayer supplies.

Buffy and Amber instinctively looked back and saw the vortex disappearing. Buffy then caught an image at the corner of her eye. She quickly turned to look and saw a filthy looking twelve-year-old boy staring at her from behind a tree with fear in his eyes.

"I won't hurt you," Buffy said loudly to the boy. Amber turned to see who Buffy was talking to. "I promise."

The boy backed up a couple of steps and stumbled over a tree root that was slightly protruding above the ground. He quickly got back on his feet and ran away while screaming, "Witches. Witches."

"I'm not! I swear," Buffy called out, but her words fell on deaf ears as the boy continued to cry witch. "Okay, Amber, we better hurry before the town's people start banning together to burn us at a stake."

"I'm all for that," Amber said as Buffy pulled out the device that was use to detect a time disruption.

Buffy turned slightly before gesturing toward the direction that would take them deeper into the woods while saying, "According to these readings, it's this way."

"That's away from the town though," Amber said.

"I noticed that too, but we have to go where our device points towards." As Buffy and Amber began walking, Buffy put away the device.

Amber began a casual conversation while walking and after walking the first mile, they came upon hoof tracks on a slightly beaten path. Buffy took out her device and scanned the area. While Buffy was doing that, Amber took a closer look at the hoof tracks.

When Buffy was done, she said, "As I was thinking. The device is pointing in the direction of the horse that made the tracks."

"Horses," Amber corrected. "I can't get a clear count, but I'm thinking a large group. And they were traveling side by side in a group of fours."

Buffy grinned and said, "Check you out being all scouty."

Amber grinned. She then noticed horse droppings. She gestured towards it before saying, "Judging by that, these tracks are just a few hours old."

Buffy looked at the droppings long enough to see it before facing Amber again and saying, "Well, we should continue."

As they continued down the path Amber said, "The vampire that we're after can't be following the group on horses."

"Since we're picking up a minor time disruption, Dr. Briers' minion had arrived before we did. The vampire could've been here for days… weeks even. So perhaps the group on horses is scouring the area in search of the vampire."

Buffy and Amber followed the path that the horses' took. As dusk began to fall, Buffy and Amber improvised on making two torches and continued walking down the path.

Two hours after sunset, Buffy and Amber saw the glow of a campfire. They approached the camp with caution. When the large number of tents and the eight campfires came into view, they ducked behind a bush to keep from being seen. Amber gazed over the camp from behind the bush while Buffy check her device.

"We just track down the king's army," Amber said.

"And something isn't right," Buffy said. "According to these reading the time disruption is in the campsite, but that can't be. A vampire couldn't travel with the army during the daylight."

Their attentions were then drawn behind them by the sound of a snapping twig. When they looked a sentry was standing ready to attack while carrying a spear. "Identify yourself!"

Buffy and Amber rose to their feet before Buffy said, "I'm Buffy; she's Amber. I understand how this looks, but I can explain."

"Save it," he said. He then gestured towards the camp. "Move!"

"We couldn't talk this over, could we?" Buffy commented.

"Move!" He said more harshly.

"Somehow, I didn't think so," Buffy said before turning and walking towards the camp. Amber followed a step behind Buffy. The sentry trailed behind them both.

Buffy and Amber captured the soldiers' focus as they walked into camp. Nevin, the leader of the group along with several others walked up to them. Nevin was the one to ask, "Who are those two women, Alfred?"

"These women can speak, and I'm Buffy," she said as the leader was noticing the bag that Buffy carried. "My friend is Amber."

Nevin quickly took hold of the bag, but before he was able to yank it from her, Buffy grabbed his arm while keeping him from taking it. Eleven of the soldiers around Nevin pulled their swords. Buffy slowly gazed over the ones with the swords drawn before letting go of Nevin's arm.

Nevin took the bag and looked in. Once he saw the stakes, crossbows and the bottles of holy waters, he quickly looked into her face. Buffy just stared back with an unwavering focus as if to kill him with just her stare. After a short stare, he motioned for his men to back off. The eleven soldiers were putting their swords back into their sword holders as Nevin was saying, "A year ago, my sister was delirious with sweat and fever for two days before she died. At least I thought she was delirious. You don't belong to this world, do you slayer?"

"You know that I'm a slayer?" Buffy quickly asked.

"I'm not a weak person, but yet I felt that you were much stronger than me," Nevin said. "And these weapons that you carry are weapons that a slayer would carry."

"You ran into a slayer before," Amber commented.

"As a young boy, I heard stories," Nevin said. "Of course I didn't believe those stories… until now that is. The stories I've was told says that slayers are always young girls; around the age of sixteen or so and never living more than three… four years as a slayer."

"I was fifteen when I was chosen and as far as living past four years, I can't really say how I managed that," Buffy said.

Nevin handed Buffy back her bag, while questioning, "There are no demons here, so why are you following me and my troops?"

"We weren't following your group," Buffy said. "We just stumbled across your campsite. Alfred captured us a minute later."

"You are tracking a demon though?"

"A vampire to be more precise."

"Is that vampire from your world too?"

"Why do you think that I'm from a different world?"

"A day before my sister died, she told me that I was going to meet a slayer that belongs to a world with flying coaches. She hesitated with the word coach. She really didn't know what to call them. She described them as a giant bird that was created by man and that these flying coaches take large group of people from place to place. Of course I didn't believe her when she told me that."

"You're right," Buffy said. Amber gave Buffy a shocked look for admitting it. "That vampire, Amber and I are from a different world… a different dimension actually and your dimension has a direct influence over my dimension. If this vampire kills in this dimension it will be doubly bad… triply even for my dimension. In fact by using a tracking spell that a witch had taught me, I tracked an influence that will effect my dimension to this point. That's how we stumbled onto your campsite. Since a vampire cannot travel with you when you travel in the daylight, how is it possible for my spell to lead us here?"

"I have to admit that I don't know too much about vampires other than that they kill and that they kill at night."

"They kill by sucking the blood from his or her victims," Buffy said.

"William!" Alfred blurted out.

Buffy gave Alfred a curious look before questioning, "Can you talk while using more than one or two words? William doesn't really tell me much."

Alfred gave her a slight sneer as Nevin said, "William won't be telling you anything at all. He was killed the night before and I'm thinking from that vampire that you are looking for."

"Was William part of your group?" Amber questioned.

"He was my second in command," Nevin said.

"Buffy, we can only track…" Amber hesitated to finish her sentence while looking at Nevin, "the influences that had occurred with our spell and not the vampire who caused them."

"Great!" Buffy sarcastically said. "Can anything else go wrong?"

"Would there be a reason why William would have blood around his mouth and lips when we found his body," one of the soldiers questioned.

"And I know better than to ask what else go wrong," Buffy again sarcastically commented.

"The blood around his mouth means something, doesn't it?" Nevin questioned.

"It means that he fed off of the vampire after he was bitten by one," Buffy said. "He too is now a vampire. Most likely he will be waking up anytime."

"He's going to be awfully hungry when he awakes too," Amber added.

"What did you do with William's body?" Buffy asked Nevin.

"We buried it two towns back," Nevin said. "You won't be able to get there before dawn."

"Amber and I have to get to where you had buried the body as soon as possible," Buffy said.

Nevin took a deep breath before turning towards the soldiers who had pulled their swords. "Edgar, you're in charge. Langley, you and I are going to where we buried William's body with Buffy and Amber."

"Yes, sir," Langley said. "I'll go get our horses."

"Do we get horses too?" Amber asked.

"Langley and I get the horses," Nevin said. "You and Buffy will each ride double with one of us."

Amber just gave him the thumbs up sign. Nevin gave her a confused look before turning towards Buffy while saying, "Flying coaches can't be the name of those things that my sister saw in her dreams. What are they called?"

"They're called aircrafts," Buffy said. "And I can't really tell you anymore about my dimension. I only told you what I did because you already had the knowledge of it."

"Why can't you tell me more about it?"

"If you had information of my dimension you could inadvertently influence it," Buffy said.

"How is that possible?" Nevin asked.

"I can't really answered that either," Buffy said.

Nevin gave Buffy a skeptical look before gesturing toward the horses while saying, "I'll go help with the horses." He then walked away.

Friday, April 12, 2013, at TEC headquarters, Giles had been trying to reason with Zoey on removing the curse since the others had left. Giles was at it for fifteen minutes before giving up and leaving Zoey in the room by herself. After stepping into the hall, he got out his cell phone and called Willow. The call went straight into Willow's voicemail and after the beep he left a message for Willow to call him back.

At the Park Green Hotel, Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat stepped into the hotel. Dean and Sam saw immediately that there were different workers than who they were earlier.

Dean tapped Sam on the shoulder while saying, "Use the FBI badge."

Cat grinned while whispering, "You two are carrying around fake FBI badges?"

"We have a few kinds of fake ID's," Sam said.

"How can I get one?" Cat asked.

"You don't," Dean firmly said. "We only have them to help us gain information during a hunt. We don't use them for any other purpose."

"Fine," Cat said.

"Sammy and I will get the hotel guess list," Dean said. "You two stay here."

"Okay," Cat and Nichole said. They then watched Dean and Sam as they walked up to the counter and flashed their fake badges for one of the two counter workers to see.

As Dean was putting his badge away, he said, "We are looking for a hotel guest with the name of Craig. We don't know if the name 'Craig' is the guest's first name or last, so we will need to see the entire current guest list."

"Sir, this is actually my third night working and I don't know the procedure about situations like this," the man said.

Sam read the man's nametag before asking, "Matthew, can we see the manager then?"

"At the moment, he's walking the halls," Matthew said. "He's been gone for a while now, so he should be back anytime."

"I need you to page him," Dean said. "It's actually a matter of life and death."

"I'll call him on his cell phone," Matthew said as he picked up the phone. He dialed the number. After a moment of ringing, it went into voicemail. He left a message before hanging up. "Okay; he's not answering his cell."

"Matthew, I'm going to confide into you as to why we're here and then you can decide if you will give us that list without waiting on the approval," Dean said.

"Okay," Matthew skeptically said.

"Craig was identified as being a witness to a murder committed by a crime-lord," Dean said. "We have to find Craig before the crime-lord does. If the crime-lord finds Craig first… well let's just say that this crime-lord loves using explosives to get rid of his enemies."

Matthew put up his finger while saying, "I'll get you that list."

Dean smiled before saying, "I appreciate that." Matthew nodded before going to the computer. Within a couple of minutes, Matthew was making a printout of the current guest list. Once the last page came off the printer, he handed the list to Dean. "Thanks."

As Dean and Sam turned towards Nichole and Cat, they saw Vicki stepping into the lobby.

Vicki saw Dean and Sam immediately and waved. Dean and Sam waved back while walking towards Nichole and Cat.

Cat turned to see who Dean and Sam were waving to. When she saw who it was, she stepped up to her and said, "Hi; you must be Vicki."

"I am. Who are you?"

"I'm Cat." She then gestured towards Nichole while saying, "That's Nichole. We're part of Buffy's group. You might say that Nichole and I are honorable slayers. Oh, you do know what a slayer is, don't?"

"I know what a slayer is, but what do you mean by honorable slayers?" Vicki questioned as she saw Nichole waving to her while stepping up.

Vicki waved back as Cat said, "We both were once potential slayers. Buffy told us that we still possessed potential slayers' ability even though we couldn't be called upon as slayers because of our age. Buffy had Willow change that through magic." Cat showed her cross. "Now while wearing our crosses, we have the characteristics of chosen slayers."

"Nice," Vicki said as Dean and Sam stepped up.

Dean held up the list while saying, "I'm only finding five people on this list with the name Craig…"

"The vengeance demon told us that there were six guests with the name Craig," Cat interrupted with.

"I was about to say that there are twelve guests with C as a middle initial," Dean said while looking at Cat. "We'll check those guests out first." Dean then divvied up the names on the list. "Okay; let's divide and conquer."

Nichole gave Dean the thumbs up sign before they turned to leave the lobby.

* * *

**Nothing to do with my story, but I have a question for Buffy fans. In the final minutes of the episode 'chosen' Giles indicated that the next hell-mouth was in Cleveland, Ohio, but in people's fanfiction and in the season 8 comic book, Rome was selected as being Buffy's established headquarters. My question is, "Why Rome?"**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks, Harry2 and Superfan, for the information. I'm actually in the middle of re-watching the Angel series. I'm in season 4 right now. I saw Angel when it first aired on network TV, but I have forgotten a lot of the details. (Hence, why I'm re-watching it.) **

**A/N I haven't seen too many shows with gargoyles; none in the past few years. All I really know is that they're supposed to be grotesque creatures that ward off evil. I was attempting to keep with the gargoyle's established persona, but I couldn't really find a set persona for it on the web. It seems to slightly change from story to story, so again it will be slightly different in my story. Now on with the story.**

Giles returned to the conference room with a spell book on locator spells. When Zoey saw the book, she questioned, "Are you planning to impress me with your magic?"

Before Giles could answer, his cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the number and answered with a simple, "Hello."

"Rupert Giles, it's Prof. Sarah Green," she said. "I may have something for you about that possible gargoyle. It's not much… in fact it's very little actually, but I figured you would want to know anyway."

"Is it a gargoyle?" Giles said.

"I've spoken with someone about it and he said that it could be a gaglore," Prof. Green said.

"What is a gaglore?" Giles asked.

"It's a gargoyle looking demon, and that's pretty much all the information I got from him," Prof. Green said.

Zoey said while overlapping Prof. Green, "A gaglore is like a vampire."

Giles gave Zoey a focused look before saying, "Prof. Green, I need to call you back."

"Certainly," Prof. Green said before hanging up.

"What do you mean a gaglore is like a vampire," Giles said as he put his phone away.

"Release me from this room and I'll tell you," Zoey said.

"How about that you tell me what I want to know and I won't ramble out spells that I clearly have no business messing with in attempt to loosen your tongue."

"You think that you can hurt me?" Zoey confidently asked.

"Probably not, but it will be interesting to find out. And I do know enough magic to be a threat. So shall I start with the incantation that I know or should I go get spell books and start there?"

Zoey stared into Giles' eyes and when she realized that he was serious she took a deep breath before saying, "Gargoyle is to gaglore as human is to Vampire."

"I got that part so now tell me what I don't know."

"People of this dimension know that demons are repulse by gargoyles, but they don't really know why and all guesses that they have are only wild theories. The fact is, gargoyles are foot soldiers for the forces of good during the fight between good and evil in their original dimension. Their essence is good. Demons can sense that essence either from sight, extrasensory feelings or smell and their reactions to it are like throwing a large amount of holy water on a vampire. Gargoyles and gaglores don't sense that essence, but they both know it's there. In fact they both need it to live. You can think of that good essence as blood. A gargoyle is turned into gaglore by another gaglore draining the gargoyle's essence until close to death much like when a vampire sires a human; except a gaglore does it through the touch of the hands somewhere on bare skin and not through the bite on the neck."

"Can a gaglore throw fireballs?"

Zoey shook her head while saying, "Not fireballs, but I can certainly understand how someone could misconstrued that."

"What does it throw?"

"Well, truthfully, it's an essence-ball."

"Explain." Giles said as he leaned against the edge of the table while partly sitting down.

"The essence seeps out from a gaglore on a continuous basis. Since they need that essence to sustain their undead existence, they have to feed on gargoyles to get it. Oh and they can go ten days without feeding, but they try not to go more than three to five days. An older and more experienced gaglore knows how to throw a ball of that essence at its victims. When the essence hits the victim it shocks him or her as a stun gun would. Once the victim is immobilized the gaglore feeds… sometime turning him or her into a demon like itself and sometime killing him or her outright."

"How do you kill a gaglore?"

"The easiest way is to trap it and keep it from feeding; which will be next to impossible to starve one if there's a gaglore in this dimension."

"We aren't in a gargoyle dimension, so why will it be next to impossible to starve a gaglore in this dimension?"

"The human souls and the gargoyle essences are cast from the same light. The humans' soul are not as pure as the gargoyle's essence though so it will take ten times more humans for a gaglore to get its fill, but since humans are in abundance in this dimension, that's won't be a problem for a gaglore."

"I'll ask again; how do we kill one?"

"Decapitation; if someone could manage it and that's pretty much it."

"Any weaknesses?"

"Only one that I know of; a gaglore can only cast a reflection of an essence. The reaction of a gaglore seeing its own reflection is much like a vampire seeing a cross. So I guess if you can lure a gaglore into a house of mirrors you could overpower one more easily. Of course the intensity of the essence's reflection will be greater after the gaglore had fed."

"You gave me very useful information. Thank you."

"You can thank me by ending the spell that is keeping me in this room."

Giles grinned before saying, "I'll be more than happy to… right after you end your curse on the Park Green Hotel."

"Somehow, I thought you would say that."

"Now as far the reason that I brought in this spell book," Giles said as he held up the book. "I'm going to attempt to end your curse with or without your help."

"You won't be able to."

Giles ignored what Zoey had said and opened the book to a particular page. He then began to chant an incantation.

At the Park Green Hotel, Dean, Sam, Nichole, Cat and Vicki had searched the hotel for several minutes for the six Craigs. They located and talked to the five Craigs who they knew about, but the sixth Craig couldn't be found.

As the group was gathering on the seventh floor close to the stairs and elevators Cat asked, "Had anyone found that last Craig yet?"

"No," everyone said as each one shook his or her head.

Nichole continued to say, "I'm beginning to think that that demon lied to us when she said that there are six Craig at the hotel."

"Wait," Vicki blurted out. "Was the vengeance demon's exact words were, 'there are six Craigs at the hotel.'"

"It was," Cat said. "Why?"

"Because we eliminated a group of people from our search who shouldn't have been eliminated," Vicki said.

Dean quickly thought for moment before blurting out, "Staff members."

Vicki grinned while saying, "Exactly. We have to find out if there's a Craig on staff tonight and then if there is, find him."

"Let's get back to the lobby," Dean said as he pressed the down arrow to call the elevator.

A couple of minutes later, Sam, Nichole, Cat and Vicki stood next to the elevators as Dean stepped up to the reception desk. Matthew was once again the one to step up to Dean while saying, "So have you locate that witness yet."

"Here's the thing," Dean began. "I first thought that the witness was a guest, but now I'm thinking that it could be a hotel staff member. Is there a worker with the name of Craig?"

"Craig Donnelly; he's the hotel manager," Matthew said.

"The manager who didn't pick up your phone call earlier?" Dean questioned.

"Yes… and I still haven't seen him since before I tried calling him for you."

"What's his cell phone number?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to give out that information."

"Matthew, your manager might be in trouble, and I only want the number in order to call it and listen for a ringing phone. Now give me that number."

"Okay," Matthew said before giving Dean the number.

After Dean thanked Matthew, he returned to his group. While walking up he said, "We're looking for Craig Donnelly, the hotel manager. I got his cell phone number, so we'll each call it and listen for a ringing phone as we search. Here's the…"

"Dean, if we're dealing with anyone with access to room 412 we should check out that room first," Sam interrupted with.

"That's not a bad idea," Dean said. He then walked over to the elevators and pressed the up button.

Within a couple of minutes, Dean and his group were stepping up to room 412. Dean tried the door first and when he felt that it was locked he called the manager's number.

Everyone heard ringing coming from within the room. Nichole was the first to say, "I here it."

"Nichole, you and Cat are the ones with slayer strengths," Dean said. "So one of you get us in."

"I'll do it," Nichole said. She then used her strength to open the door.

Dean walked in first and within seconds, the hotel manager pointed a gun towards Dean's head. Craig noticed that Dean wasn't alone and said with a slightly slurred speech from being slightly drunk, "It's nice that you and your friends can join the party. Now everyone get in a shut the door."

Vicki was the last one in and as she was shutting the door, Dean said, "Craig, we know why you're in here."

"Who are you people and how do you know my name?" he said as he slightly shook the gun as he pointed it at Dean.

"Who we are is not important," Dean said as he noticed three full liquor bottles and one that was almost empty on a nightstand next to the bed. "What is important is that we know that you're trying to get drunk enough in order to shoot yourself with that gun. We're here to tell you that you are under a spell."

"There's no spell," Craig said as he slightly laughed.

"It's true," Cat said. "People with the name of Craig are cursed to suffer suicidal guilt on this date in this hotel. It's started with Craig Donton."

"The two after Craig Donton were not name Craig," Craig said.

"They were actually," Nichole said. "Timothy Bradshaw's middle name was Craig and Paul Gaylon's biological father's last name is Craig. So you are being influence by a curse."

"So will you please put down the gun?" Vicki asked.

"I'm not being cursed by guilt," Craig exclaimed.

"So you're not feeling guilty about anything and threatening to take your own life?" Vicki questioned.

"I'm feeling guilty and I have been for the past two weeks," Craig said. "I've bought this gun a week ago to kill myself on this date on purpose. I figured that someone would blame it on a false curse. That's why I gave an anonymous tip of the three past suicides on this date during the past three years to the newspaper; so you see; I'm not being influenced by a blasted curse or spell."

"There is a curse," Nichole said.

"And killing yourself is never the answer to a problem," Cat said.

"What do you know?" Craig asked Cat.

"A lot, actually," Cat spouted. "My father killed himself when I was sixteen. When I was seventeen I attempted suicide. I woke up in a hospital bed the morning after I took a bottle of pills and to this day I haven't figured out who found me and took me to the hospital. So I know what it's like to give up. I also know that life is too important to give it up."

"My life is not important," Craig said. "In fact, I'm death for everyone who loves me.

"I'm sure that's not true," Vicki said.

"It's true. First my mom while I was being born; then my aunt and uncle ten years later. They died while driving to school to pick me up. And finally my wife and two kids two weeks ago in an car accident"

"Craig, if I understand correctly, those deaths were tragic events, but you weren't to blame for any of it," Vicki said.

"My wife and kids were killed in the used vehicle that I purchased only one week before," Craig said. "My wife didn't even want or like the vehicle, but I insisted on having it. The cops said that a ruptured brake line was what caused the car brakes to fail. A tractor-trailer truck plowed into them doing forty miles per hour as my wife went through the red light. I was changing the brakes the day before, so what happened was my fault."

"I can understand your guilt, but what happened was an accident," Cat said. "Killing yourself isn't going to bring back your family."

"I know it won't bring them back," Craig exclaimed. "I was supposed to have been in the car with them. I should be dead too, but I decided at the last minute that I had something that was more important to do and they went without me."

"I'm not a religious person, but perhaps you were spared for a reason…" Nichole said.

"Quiet!" Craig shouted. "I heard of that crap already." Craig pointed towards Cat. "You, why did you try to kill yourself?"

"After my dad killed himself, I went to live with my Uncle Tony… my mom's brother and his wife Aunt Paula and every day Aunt Paula told me as to how worthless my life was," Cat began.

"Why did your aunt tell you that?" Vicki was the on to ask.

"She didn't like me for one… she never did," Cat said. "She thought I was a sassy mouth trouble maker… which I have to admit to being sassy, but I never started the trouble. Trouble has a way of finding me. Anyway, she married my uncle when I was eleven and since that day, she and I never did get along. Before my dad killed himself, Aunt Paula and I ignored each other's presence while being in the same house. After moving in with her, she tried to micromanage me down to the second. I tried… I really tried to adhere to her rules, but when my actions and her rules didn't mesh, that was when I was called worthless along with a few more unpleasant things. I didn't really have any friends to speak of and after a year of hearing how worthless I was, I started to believe it and took the pills."

"What changed to make you feel that life is worth living?" Craig asked.

"I woke up in the recovery room while remembering an intense dream," Cat said. "I'm not going to say what that dream was, but it did give me a new outlook on life and as for my aunt calling me worthless, it didn't affect me anymore. If anything, I started to look at her as being worthless."

"Interesting, but your attempted suicide story lacks incentive for me not to commit suicide," Craig said.

"That wasn't the purpose of that story," Cat said. "But if you want an incentive to live, then think about how you will be selflessly turning your back on your friends and relatives. I love my dad, but I would love the chance to tell him off for killing himself and it pisses me off more when I know that that chance will never come."

"Okay, I'm tired of all this talk." Craig continued to say as he gestured towards a blank wall with his gun. "Everyone sit down on the floor, against that wall and keep quiet."

"I believe you don't want to hurt any of us," Dean said.

"What I wanted and what is going to happen are now two different things. Now get against the wall and shut up… wait." He then pointed to a spot on the floor near the door. "Purses, cell phones and any knifes or guns are to be drop there and then get against the wall."

Once Dean and the others complied, Craig sat on the edge of the bed, picked up one of the liquor bottles and took a drink while keeping his eyes on the group.

On October 20, 1112, two hours after sunrise, Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley arrived to William's burial site. After the four got off the two horses, they stepped up to the shallow crater that was once William's grave.

Buffy took one glance and said, "He's out." Buffy reached for the device to track time disruption. "Since William is an influence that will affect my dimension, he should also show up on my… my magical device." Nevin and Langley gazed at the device that Buffy pulled out and watched with unwavering focus as she used it. Buffy took a minute to scan the area. She then pointed towards a direction. "What is in that direction?"

"A village," Nevin said. "It's about a fifteen minute walk from here. That thing that you're holding in your hand doesn't look magical."

"It is telling me that influences that will affect my dimension are in the direction of that village," Buffy said. "So of course it's magical."

"Do you mind if I can take a better look at it?" Nevin asked.

"Actually, I do mind," Buffy said. "If something would happen with this, I would be up a creek with no paddle." Buffy put the device away. "We need to get to that village."

Devin gave Buffy a skeptical look before saying, "Let's mount up." Buffy just politely grinned before everyone turned towards the horses.

Within fifteen minutes, Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley arrived to a moderate size village. Nevin and Langley stopped the horses in front of the place that was both a blacksmith shop and stables. After dismounting from the two horses Buffy again took out the device and scanned the area. Nevin and Langley tied their horses to a hitching post.

Buffy had a disquieting look on her face as she stopped twice during her scans.

"Is there a problem, Buff?" Amber asked.

"I'm picking up several hot spots," Buffy said.

"Hot spots?" Langley questioned.

Buffy glanced at Langley while saying, "Spots that will influence my dimensions." She faced the blacksmith shop while looking at the scanner's readout. "One of the hot spots is right here. So we might as well start here first." As the group walked towards the smith's shop, Buffy put the scanner away.

Inside the smith shop, a nineteen-year-old man was cleaning up. He was about done, when Buffy's group stepped in. The nineteen-year-old man stopped what he was doing and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel. I work in the stables and if you need, I can feed and water your horses; providing you have horses."

Buffy was looking around the shop as Nevin said, "There are two hitched up in front and they could used food and water."

Before Daniel was able to respond, Buffy said, "This looks cleaner than I expected a blacksmith shop or stables to be."

"You should have seen the place two hours ago," Daniel said. "This place was in shambles and the smith's body was in the midst of it all."

"The smith is dead?" Langley quickly asked.

"He is. From an animal attack," Daniel said.

"A neck injury?" Amber questioned.

"It was," Daniel said.

"Where's his body?" Nevin asked.

"As far as I know, it was taken to the hill to be buried," Daniel said. "It even might be buried by now."

Nevin place his hand on Buffy's shoulder before saying, "Can I talk to you in private for a second?"

"Sure," Buffy said. She then followed Nevin out of earshot of the others.

Amber heard the slightly hollow footsteps of their walk on the wooden floor, but shook it off as being normal.

Once Buffy and Nevin was out of earshot, Nevin asked, "What can we do to prevent the smith's body from waking up as a vampire?"

"Cut off his head or burn it," Buffy said. "Normally though I don't have that luxury of destroying the body."

"How do you normally handle a possible vampire," Nevin asked.

"I'm usually standing graveside while waiting for it to wake up and then dust it when it does," Buffy said. Nevin gave her a confused look. "Vampires will explode into dust if you pierce the heart with a wooden stake."

Nevin nodded before saying, "Well, Langley and I will go and decapitate the smith's body and any other body that was found this morning while you and Amber check out the other hot spots. All of us can meet back here in a couple of hours if we don't run into each before that."

"Sounds good. I just hope my scanner… my magical scanner detects more than someone being missing when that someone wouldn't have been if it wasn't for the original vampire." Nevin gave Buffy a curious look as she turned towards Amber and called out, "Amber, let's go."

"Daniel, we'll be back shortly for the horses," Nevin said.

"They're in good hands," Daniel said. Nevin nodded before he and his group turned and walked out.

Once Buffy and her group were back outside, Buffy again checked her scanner. Nevin was right behind Buffy and was able to take a long gaze at the display as she chose her next hot spot to investigate. After Buffy chose the hot spot, she and Amber walked in one direction, while Nevin and Langley walked in a different direction.

After Nevin and Langley walked a few feet, Langley looked back to see how far away Buffy and Amber were. When he faced forward again he said, "That thing that Buffy has doesn't look magical."

"It's not magical," Nevin responded. "Buffy has been lying to us about her magic."

"Then how is she tracking those hot spots?" Langley questioned.

"I don't know," Nevin said. "If I can get Amber alone for a few minutes I might be able to trick her into telling me things."

Langley gave Nevin a curious look before asked, "Why Amber?"

"Buffy is too experience of a soldier to be tricked into talking," Nevin said.

"Buffy is a soldier?" Langley questioned.

"She is. I saw it when I first looked into her eyes. In fact I can tell that she's a leader."

"A strange dimension she lives in if females can be soldiers and leaders," Langley commented. "And how can one dimension affect another… hell, how can there be more than one dimensions."

"I've heard stories of other dimensions, but I'd never believe in those stories until last night. As far as to how our dimension is affecting hers, that's just another piece of information I could trick Amber on telling us."

Buffy and Amber followed four of the signals to dead ends. They tracked the fifth and final signal to the edge of the village. Instead of following it further, Buffy said, "We need our two guides before going any further."

"I don't mean to complain, Buffy, but we haven't eaten or slept since we were sent here," Amber said. "I'm hungry and slightly tired."

"You're right," Buffy said. "I've been too focus on stopping Dr. Briers' minion that I didn't think about stopping to take care of personal needs. Let's go find Nevin and Langley and then we'll find something to eat."

"Perfect," Amber said.

Ten minutes later, Buffy and Amber were walking up to Nevin and Langley. As the four were gathering again, Langley asked, "So how did it go?"

"I need more impressive magic," Buffy said. "The stupid thing that I'm using to track with is tracking only the after effects and not the cause. Anyway, Amber had pointed out that we haven't eaten or slept since we entered your dimension."

"Which do you want first; food or sleep?" Nevin asked.

"Food," Amber quickly blurted out. She then said more calmly. "Food; I'm starving."

Nevin grinned before saying, "Let's go find something to eat."

As everyone began walking, Buffy asked while pointing, "What is beyond the village and in that direction?"

"Mainly farmhouses," Nevin said.

"The castle that we're out of is in that direction," Langley said.

"How far away is the castle?" Buffy quickly asked.

"It's two days away," Langley said.

"Would William return to the castle?" Buffy asked.

"As a vampire, would William know to go to the castle?" Nevin asked.

"Vampires have the memories and characteristics of who they were before," Buffy said. "By knowing that about vampires you can usually predicts a newly sired vampire's movements."

"Then yes; he'll be heading for the castle," Nevin said.

"If William gets inside that castle and start siring people, that will be very bad," Amber said.

"We have to make sure he doesn't," Buffy said.

"Should we split up?" Amber asked.

"If Nichole and Cat were with us, I would, but not while it's only us," Buffy said. "Willow would be a big plus to have with us right about now too."

"Who are Nichole, Cat and Willow?" Nevin asked.

"They're part of my group from my dimension," Buffy said.

"You would prefer Willow being with you over Nichole and Cat," Nevin commented. Buffy gave him a curious look. "Why?"

"Why do you think that I would prefer Willow over the others?" Buffy questioned.

"I got that from how you had expressed Willow as being a big plus," Nevin said. "Am I wrong?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "You're not wrong. Willow is a powerful witch. If she was here, Amber and I wouldn't be chasing dead ends."

"Was Willow the one to send you two here?" Nevin asked.

"No; someone else's magic brought us here," Buffy said.

"Sir, should I go ahead and warn the people in the castle?" Langley asked.

Buffy asked before Nevin had a chance to answer, "Oh, so the people at the castle are open-minded about the existence of vampires and demons?" Buffy saw the confused and curious look that Langley had given her. "They won't think that you gone mad if you tell them that William is now a demon?"

"Buffy has a point, Langley," Nevin said. "The ones at the castle won't believe you. We just have to find William before he reaches the castle."

"We're not stopping for sleep, are we?" Amber questioned.

"We really need to stop William from reaching the castle first," Buffy said.

"As I tell my men; you can rest when you're dead," Nevin said.

Amber smirked while saying, "I'm familiar with the phrase." Nevin just grinned.

Nevin led the group to a place to get some food. There was very little talking while they were eating and once Buffy had her fill, she excused herself from the group and went to relieve herself.

Nevin saw his opportunity to ask Amber a few questions. "Amber, tell me. Have the people in your dimension always traveled by aircrafts?"

Amber shook her head before answering, "The people in my dimension have only been using aircrafts for slightly more than one hundred years."

"What did your ancestors used to get around before the aircrafts?" Nevin asked.

"Horses like you do now."

"Oh, so the aircrafts replaced the horses?"

Amber shook her head before saying, "No; the automobiles replaced the horses."

"What are automobiles?" Nevin quickly questioned.

Amber gave him an 'uh-oh' look before saying, "I don't think I should be telling you this."

"You've already spoken, so why don't you finish," Nevin said. "What are automobiles?"

Amber gave Nevin a skeptical look before letting out a sigh. "Automobiles are horseless carriages or horseless coaches."

"What makes a horseless carriage move?" Langley asked.

"I actually said more than I should, so I'm shutting up now," Amber said.

"It must be powerful magic that allows carriages to move about on its own," Nevin commented while attempting to bait her.

"There's no magic…" Amber mumbled the word 'involve' when she saw the inquisitive look she got from Nevin. "Actually, you're right. It is powerful magic… very powerful magic in fact that allows a horseless carriage to move." She then stood up. "I actually need to relieve myself also, so I'll be back." With a slight nervous composure Amber left at a fast pace while mumbling, "Jesus, Amber…"

Nevin caught the first two words of Amber's mumble when Langley interrupted with, "That's all we're getting…"

"Shshsh," Nevin quickly said as he gestured for him to wait. Langley hushed. "Now she's out of range."

Langley had a confused look on his face while questioning, "What?"

"She mumbled Jesus before she left," Nevin said.

"I've heard people say Jesus before," Langley said.

"I find it unlikely that Jesus would be known to two or more separate dimensions by the same name, so I don't see how it could be possible that she could have heard of him by the name of Jesus if she was from another dimension. Plus there was holy water in the slayer's bag."

"Do you think that Buffy and Amber have been lying to us and they are from our world?" Langley asked.

Instead of answering Langley's questions, he commented, "William and the blacksmith wouldn't have died if it wasn't for the vampire that Buffy and Amber are after. Buffy admitted that she is having trouble tracking the vampire itself, but is only able to track the effects of it."

"O-kay," Langley said. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"If Elizabeth didn't get sick last year and died, things would be different. Most likely she would be a wife along with being a mother to a new born right now."

"I thought you were done mourning over the loss of your sister," Langley commented.

"That's not what I'm getting at, you twit," Nevin slightly hissed. "What I am getting at is that Elizabeth's death had influenced people. My life certainly has been influenced by her death. If she hadn't died last year, I think my life would be different today."

"What does that have to do with Buffy and Amber?"

"Buffy, Amber and that vampire are not from a different dimension, they are from a different time." Langley gave him a confused look. "They are from the bloody future."

"They are from the future?" Langley mocked in disbelief.

"Yes; that's why our world has a great influence over Buffy and Amber's world," Nevin said. "Buffy and Amber's history is our present. Buffy and Amber don't want us knowing about their world because as of now, their world doesn't exist yet and they fear that we can change their world if we had knowledge of it. Buffy and Amber are here to stop the vampire from changing their history."

Langley slightly laughed and said, "You have always had the imagination."

"My imagination is why I won the battles that I have," Nevin said as to defend himself. "I'm also right about this."

"You know how absurd you're sounding?"

"I do actually."

"So what now? Will you tell Buffy about your absurd notion and see how she reacts to it."

Nevin shook his head while saying, "No. If Buffy and Amber are here to protect their world than the future must be worth protecting. We say nothing and we do nothing to indicate that we know."

"Okay, but I still think that you're reaching."

Nevin grinned while saying, "I know, old friend."

As Buffy was returning from after relieving herself, she came upon Amber. When Buffy saw a slightly disturb look on Amber's face, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Amber slightly cringe while saying, "Please don't be mad at me, but I let something slip to Nevin and Langley."

"What do you mean that you let something slip?" Buffy questioned.

"Well, Nevin asked how we got around before aircrafts and I told him horses as they do now. Nevin made a comment about aircrafts replacing horses and without thinking I told him that the automobiles were what replaced the horses."

"Did you tell him anything else?" Buffy asked. .

"Well, I tried to pass it off that the automobiles were operated on magic, but I don't think they believed me. And before anything else was said I excused myself. So are you mad at me?"

Buffy slightly grinned before saying, "I'm not mad, but you will need to be more careful next time."

"Do you think that I've inadvertently told them about where we from?" Amber questioned.

"Well, if they had figured out where we're from with the knowledge of aircrafts and the automobiles as the only two clues then there was no way to hide it from them in the first place. Anyway, we better rejoin them and then move on." After Amber nodded, they started back towards Nevin and Langley.

Inside the castle, a man dressed like a monk knocked on a wooden door in lower chamber of the castle fifteen times with a specific rhythm to his knock. He wore a ring with the letters 'WH'.

The man who opened the door quickly asked, "Thomas, what can I do for you?"

"Can I come in, Cain?" Cain just backed up to allow him to enter. He also wore a ring with the letters 'WH'. The room was a large contemporary laboratory. Shelves ran along the four walls with a door on three of the walls that segmented the shelves. Containers with root, spices, herbs, dead insects, dead retiles, dead bats and various animal parts filled most of the shelves. Books on demons, spells and other dimensions filled the remaining shelves. Thomas said as he entered the room, "Cain, we have a problem."

"You know how I feel about problems," Cain said.

"I know and if this wasn't important, I wouldn't be bringing it to you."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Last night the witches have sensed the presence of a slayer within the region."

"Last week I was told that Raven was in Portugal."

"This slayer isn't Raven."

"So Raven was killed and another slayer was chosen. Since she lacks experience there's no problem."

"Cain, according to the witches, Raven is still alive. They are saying that there are two slayers and the one that they are now sensing is more powerful than Raven."

"That's impossible for there to be more than one slayer."

"The witches thought that too. They even done seven different incantations to verify what they are sensing and they are sensing two slayers. In fact three of the incantations indicated a third slayer traveling with the second one. They are not sure as to why they are getting confusing results."

"The incantation to open the Cara-Torous dimension is already underway and it takes four days to open the portal. If the assemblage is interrupted within those four days, that dimension can be forever sealed."

"The witches do say that this slayer is two days away from us."

"Which gives the slayer a full day to stop the ritual. This slayer has to be stop. Gather the men you need; seek out this slayer and kill her before she can stop us."

"Yes, Cain." Thomas turned and walked to the door. As he opened the door, he saw a royal guard limping towards the door. He looked back and said, "Cain, Murdock is approaching. He looks hurt."

"Quick, shut the door and help me switch these shelves."

Once the door was close, Cain and Thomas rotated each shelf that displayed a contemporary medical facility look. They were finishing up when Murdock knocked.

Thomas opened the door and said, "Good day, Murdock."

"Good day, Thomas." After Murdock and Thomas passed each other, Murdock continued to say, "I injured my ankle, Cain. I need you to look at it."

Cain pointed to a seat while saying, "Sit over there and remove your shoe."

Without saying a word, Murdock went to the seat.


	13. Chapter 13

Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley followed the signal through the thick woods for hours while stopping once an hour to allow Buffy to climb off the horse that she and Nevin shared and check the signal. As she checked the signal on the eighth hour, the signal once again was showing an additional time disruptions within their nearby vicinity. The additional signal was behind them while being a few degrees off from where they had come from.

When Nevin saw Buffy pointing the scanner into the direction of where they had come from, he questioned, "Did we travel too far?"

Buffy gazed westward at the colors of the sunset for a moment before facing Nevin and saying, "I'm picking up on another hot spot to the rear along with the one that we've been tracking." Buffy pointed to the direction of where she was getting the new reading. "The recent one is that way though and not directly behind us."

"Penelope and her family lives in that direction," Langley said.

"Does William know Penelope?" Buffy questioned.

"William was her brother," Nevin said.

"Shit!" Amber blurted out.

Nevin glanced at Amber before questioning, "William went after Penelope, didn't he?"

"If a vampire gets the chanced to do so, it will sire its whole family," Buffy said as she put her scanner away. "So can we get to Penelope's house before the sun sets?"

Nevin glanced westward before saying, "It will be close, but we might be able to."

Buffy again mounted the horse behind Nevin. Once she was comfortable on the horse, she said in a demanding tone into Nevin's ear, "Hurry!"

Nevin kicked the horse while yelling, "Yah." Nevin pushed his horse until the horse was in a fast gallop. Langley pushed his horse to keep up.

Penelope lived in a farmhouse on top of an open field. The edge of the woods was a hundred yards away.

The sunset was fading into shallow darkness with a hint of light as the two horses, each with its two riders, galloped up to the farmhouse. Langley was the last one off the horse, but was the first one to get to the front door. He immediately began pounding and without really giving anyone the time to respond, he began beating the door to open with his shoulder. Buffy left her slayer's bag tied to the horse's saddle.

"Langley!" Amber was the one to call out as Buffy took the time to check the scanner. Langley ignored Amber and continued to strike the door with as much might as he could. "Langley! Buffy and I could get you in there a lot faster and without you injuring your…" Amber ended that sentence when the door was busted open. "Okay; never mind."

Langley was the first one in followed by Nevin, Buffy and then Amber. Amber once again heard the slightly hollowed sounds of Nevin's and Langley's footsteps on the wooden floor as they searched the three rooms. The sounds of their footsteps were slightly muffled when they walked upon the animal skin rug that was in the center of the main room.

The search only took a minute and as they were stepping back into the main room, Nevin said, "We need to check below."

"There's a below from here?" Buffy questioned.

"There's a trap door underneath the animal skin," Nevin said as he reached for it. Langley went to light an oil lamp.

"It's hollow below," Amber commented as Nevin was removing the animal skin. "Oh my God, it's hollow."

Buffy looked at Amber as if she had lost her mind while saying, "Yes; I figured that out when Nevin mentioned a trap door, but thanks for confirming it."

"No-no-no; I'm talking about the black smith's shop," Amber quickly said. "It was hollow underneath. The sounds of the footsteps on the Black smith's floor were similar to our footsteps here."

"Super," Buffy sarcastically said. "Most likely we were less than fifty feet away from the vampire that we were sent to this dimension to kill and I didn't know it because hidden cellars had never crossed my mind."

Langley had a confused looked on his face as he asked, "Feet? Do you mean paces?"

"Feet, paces… it doesn't really matter," Buffy said. "Because as of now, the vampire will most likely be long gone before we can get back there. Anyway let's see what we have below this floor."

Nevin opened the trapped door and when Langley moved the lamp closer to the opening, Penelope's husband Archer, who is now a vampire, jumped on Langley to feed. Langley fell back with Archer holding on while trying to bite him. The lamp was knocked from Langley's hands. When it hit the floor the oil splattered and erupted into a fire. Nevin pulled his sword as Buffy reached out to pull Archer off of Langley.

As Buffy was pulling Archer off of Langley, Manton and Penelope, who were also newly sired vampires, sprung from the cellar. Amber caught a glimpse of them immediately and made a karate kick against Manton first. Manton was quickly knocked off balance and a he stumbled back Amber made a karate kick against Penelope. Before Manton was able to regain his balance, Nevin ran his sword through his abdomen.

Buffy had hit Archer once and has she was striking him for the second time, she saw Nevin running his sword through Manton's abdomen. As she continued to beat Archer with combination of karate moves, she yelled, "Decapitate him, Nevin!"

Langley was back on his feet and was drawing his sword when Buffy yelled. As Nevin was pulling the sword out of Manton's abdomen, Langley swung his sword to decapitate Manton. Nevin had reared back his sword when Langley sliced through Manton's neck with his sword. Manton's head dropped only an inch when the body and head exploded into dust.

The fire that got started was spreading rapidly. The animal skin rug was on fire and as Nevin and Langley turned to help either Buffy or Amber, they saw Buffy using the flaming animal skin rug as a weapon by flinging it onto Archer. As Archer was trying to get free from the flaming rug, Buffy kicked him further into the flames. Before Nevin and Langley had a chance to decide who to help, the vampire exploded into dust while being in the midst of the fire.

As Langley turned and took a step to help Amber, Nevin grabbed his arm while saying, "Don't. Buffy and Amber can handle Penelope."

Buffy turned towards Amber and Penelope. Amber was holding her own against Penelope so instead of rushing in to assist, she glanced around for something to use as a weapon. Buffy immediately spotted a wooden chair that could easily be broken into peaces for wooden stakes. Langley saw Buffy as she brought her foot up to strike the chair and nudged Nevin to look as Buffy turned the chair into kindling. Nevin and Langley continued to watch as Buffy selected the piece that she wanted. Without hesitation, Buffy reared back to throw while yelling, "Amber."

Amber glanced towards Buffy and saw the stake coming at her like a projectile. With precision, Amber caught the stake and twirled around in one swift moment just before plunging the stake into Penelope's heart.

Once Penelope had exploded into dust, Nevin said, "This fire has spread too far to put out; lets' get out of here while we can." He then saw Buffy acting as if she was sensing something.

Before Nevin was able to ask, Buffy questioned, "Were there others who lived here?"

"Nigel. Penelope and William's nephew of another sister," Langley said. "He's twelve."

Buffy grabbed a large chunk of burning debris and threw it down into the cellar. Within seconds a burning twelve-year-old boy fled rapidly from the cellar."

"My god!" Langley blurted out just before the boy exploded into dust.

"Now we can leave," Buffy said.

As the four were leaving the house, Nevin questioned, "You knew that there was a fourth vampire, didn't you?"

"When I'm in slayer mode, I can normally sense the presence of another vampire or demon," Buffy said while reaching a safe distance from the fire.

"Speaking of being in a slayer mode, Amber, you are also a slayer, aren't you?" Langley questioned as they turned and gazed upon the burning house.

"Well, I was never the chosen slayer," Amber said. "But yes; with Buffy's help, my slayer ability was activated."

"What do you mean?" Nevin asked.

Before Buffy or Amber could answer, they heard people walking up behind them. They quickly turned and saw a group of ten rough looking men with torches while standing only a few feet away. All ten had swords strap to their side.

The leader of the group stepped closer and said with a French accent, "It seems that you did me a huge favor tonight." Buffy and her group gave him a confused look. "We had the same idea, but you got here first."

"You came to kill the vampires?" Langley questioned.

"What is a vampire?" the man questioned.

"They came to kill Archer and Manton, isn't that right, Cornelius?" Nevin asked.

Cornelius faced Nevin before asking, "Have we met?"

"No, but I've heard of you," Nevin said. "There's bounty for your head. If I wasn't busy with other things, I would collect that bounty. So if I was you, I would take this opportunity to leave the region."

Cornelius laughed before saying, "That threat would be more intimidating if it wasn't for you being outnumbered five to one."

"It wouldn't be the first time that I was faced with those odds," Nevin said. "However, I don't have the time to find out how I would fare against them again."

"I say you do have the time," Cornelius said as he pulled his sword.

Buffy stepped between Nevin and Cornelius while saying, "Okay, this obviously would make an interesting tale to hear around the campfire, but…"

Cornelius said while stepping closer to Buffy, "Stand back, wench. We'll try not to hurt you and the other wench too bad once we killed your men."

Without hesitation, Buffy hit Cornelius across his jaw with enough might to send him flying back several feet unconscious. She looked upon the other nine with fire in her eyes while saying, "Okay, if we're going to do this, you should know that the odds are actually even."

One of Cornelius' men had knelt down to check on his condition. While looking up from a kneeling position he said, "He's alive."

Buffy warned through clinch teeth, "You ten can remain that way, if you pick up that worm of a man and get the hell out of here."

The man nearest to Buffy shouted back towards the others, "Pick up Cornelius. We're leaving."

"You expect us to flee like frighten children over two lost soldiers and two helpless women," another one asked.

"That helpless woman had done what the rest of us couldn't do," the first man hissed.

"You're definitely not dealing with two helpless women and lost soldiers either, so I would listen to him." Buffy then gestured towards Amber while continuing to say, "And if you insist on trying us, you can start by fighting one on one with that not so helpless woman there."

Amber proudly stepped forward as the first man told the others, "We're not fighting. Pick Cornelius up. We're leaving."

Buffy's group watched as the nine picked up their leader and walk away. When the group was at a distance, Buffy asked, "What's the four-one-one…" Buffy saw the confused look on Nevin's face. "I'm mean, the information on Cornelius?"

Nevin continued to give Buffy a confused look for a moment before saying, "I don't know the tale on it, but I do know that Cornelius wanted Archer and Manton dead. They were the other two vampires."

"Well, they would have been dead, if they would have gotten here before we did," Amber commented.

"Or worse," Buffy added. "Anyway, we should continue on."

"Let's go," Nevin said. Everyone then turned towards the horses.

Friday, April 12, 2013, at TEC head quarters, Giles was in the office while searching through Willow's spell books. For an hour before that, he had chanted three incantations in an attempt to locate Zoey's energy source. Zoey had just mocked him during each attempt. Giles had looked through one book and just after opening the second book his cell phone rang. When he looked at who was calling, he answered with, "Willow, hi."

"Giles, you left a voice message that sounded urgent," Willow said. "What is it?"

"I believe I have an ID on Valerie's demon." Giles said.

"Okay, I'm listening," Willow said.

Giles told Willow about what he learned about a gaglore. With only a short pause between subjects, Giles asked, "Do you know of a spell that will locate a vengeance demon's energy source?" He then jotted down what Willow told him.

At the Park Green Hotel, Craig continued to hold Dean and his group at gunpoint. Each time someone from the group had uttered a syllable, Craig had pointed the gun toward the person and demanded for him or her to be quiet.

After an hour of being huddled together, Vicki began to have an asthma attack. Craig quickly pointed the gun towards her and yelled in a more intoxicated voice, "I said no peep out of you five."

"She's having an asthma attack!" Sam spouted.

"Well, make her quit," Craig yelled.

"She needs her inhaler," Sam yelled back. He turned towards Vicki. "Vicki, where is it?" Vicki pointed to her purse.

When Sam stood up, Craig pointed the gun at him while demanding to know, "Where are you going?"

"Her inhaler is in her purse," Sam said. "I'm going to get it for her."

When Sam took a step towards the door, Craig stood up and pointed the gun at Sam while ordering, "Dump her purse out into the floor, so I know exactly what you're getting."

When Sam glanced at Vicki, Vicki nodded for it to be okay. Dean saw as to how focused Craig was on Sam. He eased himself into a leaping position. As Sam was dumping the contents of the purse onto the floor, Dean yelled, "Drop."

Sam dropped to the floor. Craig quickly turned towards Dean in time to see Dean coming at him at a fast pace. As Dean was tackling Craig, the gun went off and shot Cat in the upper arm. The bullet went through while leaving Cat with a flesh wound. Nichole and Vicki ducked after hearing the gunfire as Cat grabbed her arm while shouting out, "Son of a bitch!"

Dean began to beat Craig in the face. Sam leaped back to his feet with the inhaler in his hand. He yelled Vicki's name just before tossing it to her. Once the inhaler left his hand he dashed to assist Dean in subduing Craig. The inhaler hit the floor right in front of Vicki and slightly bounced. Vicki scooped it up on the bounce and began using it.

Craig still had the gun and as he was bringing up to shoot Dean, Sam grabbed his hand to take the gun. The gun went off a second and third time before Sam wrestled the gun loose and the only things that were hit were a lamp and the hotel window.

Just when Dean knocked Craig unconscious, an off duty detective from two counties away barged in with his gun drawn, while announcing, "Police! Drop your weapon! Everyone, put your hands up!"

Sam dropped the gun next to the bed before putting up his hands. Vicki's breathing was now under control and as she was in motion to put up her hands up while holding her inhaler in her right hand, she stopped after she realized that she knew the detective. As she stepped a little closer, she said, "Jacob. Jacob Scott."

Jacob took a close look at Vicki before questioning, "Vicki, right? Or are you…?"

"I'm Vicki," she said. "Felicity died from a severe asthma attack three years ago."

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry," Jacob said.

"Thanks," Vicki said as Jacob was holstering his gun.

"Vicki, I don't mean to cut this reunion short, but what in the hell going on in here?" Jacob demandingly asked just before he noticed Cat's arm. "You've been shot."

Cat sarcastically asked while acting more on impulse, "What gave it away?" Jacob was about to respond as Cat continued to say, "I'm sorry. Yes, I'm shot, but surprisingly enough, I don't think the wound is all that bad. In fact I'm barely bleeding and the pain is fading rapidly."

"I had a little bit of medical training, so let me take a look," Jacob said. "And while I'm doing that, someone start talking about what went down in here." Everyone started to talk at once as Cat removed her hand from the wound. "Okay one at a time. Vicki, you can start." Jacob went to examine Cat's wound.

"We were given a…" Vicki was only able to get out before being interrupted.

"Wait, Vicki." Jacob gestured towards Cat's wound. "Ma'am, this bullet wound looks at least an hour old if not more."

"I'm Cat; not Ma'am and it just happened."

"You have the slayer's healing ability," Vicki mumbled loud enough to be heard.

"She has the what healing ability?" Jacob questioned as a uniform cop peeked in and recognized Jacob.

"I'll explain or at least try to explain later," Vicki said as the uniform cop stepped into the doorway while holstering his gun.

"Detective Scott," the officer said as he stepped in followed by two other officers. Everyone turned to look at them. "You're out of your jurisdiction."

The second officer, who walked in, saw the unconscious body and checked on his condition as Jacob said, "I was in the room two doors down and I responded to gunfire."

"This guy is out cold, but I don't know if he had passed out or was knocked out," the second officer said as the third officer saw the gun in the floor.

As the third officer was picking up the gun while using a pencil, the first officer demanded to know, "Okay, what went down here?"

Again everyone in Dean's group spoke at once. Jacob rubbed his face before saying, "Again one at a time. Vicki, you were about to tell me what was going on, so continue."

"Well, as I was about to say, we were given information about a possible suicide." Vicki then continued to say as she pointed at Craig. "His suicide. His name is Craig Donnelly and he was knocked out by Dean."

"Who's Dean?" the first officer asked as the second officer was writing everything down.

Dean slightly raised his hand while saying, "That would be me."

"You wouldn't be one of the two FBI agents that I heard about being in the building?" the officer asked.

Dean shook his head before saying, "I'm no FBI agent."

"Who fired the gun?" the third officer asked.

Sam was the one to answer as he pointed to Craig, "Well, he had the gun and as Dean and I were trying to gain control of the situation, the gun went off three times."

"And your name is," the first officer asked as he noticed Cat's arm.

"It's Sam. I'm Dean's brother."

"Your two's last name are," the second officer asked.

"It's Barton," Dean flat out said. He then saw Jacob looking at him with a poker-face stare.

"Ma'am, you appeared to have been hit," the first officer said.

Cat held back her sarcastic remark before she hesitated to say, "I'm Cat and yes, I was shot. I'm okay though. The bullet went through without doing any major damage."

"What's your last name, Cat?" the third officer asked.

"Well, everyone calls me Cat. My actual name is Wendy Kolmar."

The first officer told the second officer, "Call for an ambulance for Cat and Craig Donnelly."

"I'm all right," Cat said. "I don't need any medical assistance."

"I see that you have pretty much stop bleeding, but I prefer that you'd humor me and get checked out," the first officer said as the second officer requested two ambulances.

Cat gave him the thumbs up sign while saying, "Fine."

"Anyway, what happened between the time you heard of a possible suicide and the gun going off?" the first officer asked.

Dean was the first to say, "We came here to talk Craig out of it. When we got here, he had his gun out and was drinking. Obviously trying to get drunk enough to shoot himself. When we interrupted his private moment, he held us captive at gun point."

"I think he was going to shoot himself in front of us once he was drunk enough," Nichole added.

The first officer asked a few more questions before being satisfied of what had happened. However, the officer's last question was how to reach each one of them. Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat all gave the same number at TEC headquarters. Vicki gave the officer her cell phone number.

The two ambulances only took five minutes to get there. As one ambulance crew strapped Craig to the stretcher as they would any other suicidal patient the second crew checked on Cat's injury; however, Cat only allowed them to wrap it with cloth bandages. Dean, Sam and Nichole stood back out of the way and watched. Vicki was out of the way too and was talking to Jacob.

As Craig was being taken to the ambulance the three uniform cops followed. Cat refused to go to the hospital for treatment so the paramedics who treated her walked out with the other paramedics. Dean's group followed the cops and the paramedics to the lobby of the hotel. Jacob remained at Vicki's side and talked to her the entire way.

Once the cops and paramedics were outside, Jacob turned towards Dean while saying, "Dean. Sam, I want to know something about you two and if you lie to me… well lying to me will be bad for you two."

"That's not the first time I heard that from someone," Dean said.

"I'm sure it's not," Jacob said. "Are you two the Winchester brothers?" Jacob saw Dean giving Vicki a subtle glance. "Oh, she never said and I never questioned. You two are Dean and Sam Winchester, aren't you?"

"We are, and the charges against us are being taken care of my Capt. Matuzek of the TEC," Dean said. "We were told that the final status of all charges might take a few weeks to get into the system, but all of them will be drop."

"Jacob, I can vouch for them," Vicki said.

Jacob looked into Vicki's eyes while saying, "The charges against them are murders, impersonating people such as police officers and FBI agents to only name two along with charges of breaking an entry…"

"Jacob, I know about all those charges," Vicki interrupted with.

"So you're going to tell me that all those charges are false?" Jacob questioned.

"They never killed a single person and as far as the other charges, they're victims of circumstances."

"They're victims of circumstance?" Jacob mocked.

"Jacob, you know me since I was eleven; granted we haven't seen each other for the past four years, but I'm the same person who you knew four years ago," Vicki began. "You know that I wouldn't be vouching for them if I honestly didn't believe in them."

Jacob took a deep breath before questioning, "You do know that I'm taking a lot on faith with you if I allow them to leave." Vicki grinned and nodded. He then sighed. "Dean; Sam, Vicki is like a baby sister to me. She trusts you two and if you two are taking advantage of her good nature, I will bury you two underneath a prison cell."

"We're not taking advantage of her," Sam was the one to say.

"See to it that you're not," Jacob said. He then turned towards Cat. "Earlier, Vicki commented that you have the slayer's healing ability. What did she mean?"

Cat glanced at Vicki as if to ask for help. When Vicki saw that 'help' look in her eyes, she said, "Jacob, I know you don't want to believe in vampires, but they're real…"

"We had that talk ten years ago… well, actually I think it was twelve years ago," Jacob interrupted with. "Vampires are nothing more than scary stories. And I thought I'd convinced you of that back then."

"You were determined to be right and since I was thirteen at the time, I knew you, a twenty-three year-old at the time, weren't going to be proven wrong by a teenager," Vicki said. "But the fact is, vampires and demons exist and Cat is a vampire slayer."

Jacob glanced at Cat before mocking, "She's a vampire slayer?"

"Well, technically I'm just an over-the-hill potential slayer who slayer's strength was recently activated through magic," Cat said. Jacob just gave her a confused look. "I'm not the chosen one, but as of now, I do have the chosen one's ability. I consider myself as an honorable slayer." She pointed at Nichole. "She's also an honorable slayer."

"So you twos super powers as honorable slayers are the powers of fast healing," Jacob mocked.

"Along with other abilities such as super strength, agility and fast reflexes," Nichole said.

"I just knew about the strength, agility and the reflexes," Cat said. "Buffy failed to mention the fast healing ability."

"And who's Buffy?" Jacob questioned.

"She's actually the chosen slayer," Cat said. "She has been fighting vampires since she was fifteen and she's thirty-two now. Buffy was also the one to activate my and Nichole's abilities." Jacob gave Cat a confused look. "She recruited us plus another over-the-hill potential slayer to track down and stop a particular vampire."

"So there are four of you nut jobs out there," Jacob commented.

"Jacob, what you're hearing is true," Vicki quickly said. "Not one of them is a nut job."

Jacob glanced over at Dean and Sam while asking, "How are you two involve in all of this?"

"Well, since we're apparently laying our cards out for you to see, you should know that Sam and I are demon hunters," Dean said.

"Vampire slayers and demon hunters?" Jacob mocked. "Okay, where are the candid cameras? Because you people can't be for real."

"We can prove it to you," Nichole said.

"How?" Jacob said.

"Just before sunset come with Cat and I to the graveyard," Nichole said.

"We've never been patrolling without Buffy," Cat pointed out.

"Chances are, Buffy will be there too," Nichole said. "And even if Buffy doesn't get back in time, I'm confident that we can handle ourselves."

"Alright," Jacob said. "Just before sunset, I'll go to the graveyard with you five."

"If you're counting me as one of the five then there will be only four," Vicki said. "I'm not the slayer or an honorable slayer so I won't be seeking out any vampires."

Jacob slightly nodded before questioning, "Out of curiosity, what is the real story about why you five are here?"

"We told you the truth about coming here to stop a suicide attempt," Cat said.

"Oh, I'm sure that is the truth, but my spidy senses are telling me that there is a lot more to that and my spidy senses are ninety-nine percent accurate."

"You're right." Vicki then took the time to tell him what happen with Felicity, her brother-in-law Craig and the curse that was put on the hotel by a vengeance demon. Jacob looked at her as if she had gone insane when she had mentioned the vengeance demon. When Vicki was done explaining, she continued to say, "I know how all this sounds, but I'm telling you the truth."

"By you thinking that you're speaking the truth is what frightens me," Jacob said.

"Give us the chance to prove it to you," Vicki said.

"How?" Jacob asked.

"There are five more Craigs in the hotel and we still have to make sure they don't kill themselves," Vicki said.

"But we stop the hotel manager from committing suicide," Cat pointed out. "We stop the curse from happening this time… didn't we?"

"Possible," Vicki said. "However, I think the hotel manager was going to commit suicide with or without that curse. Therefore I feel that another suicide attempt among the other five is likely."

"Vicki has a point," Dean said. "Until it reaches midnight, the remaining five Craigs are still in danger of falling victims of the curse."

Jacob slightly laughed before saying, "I can tell that all five of you do honestly believe in this curse."

Before anyone could respond, everyone's attention was drawn to a hotel guest, a middle-aged man, who was rattling out as he walked passed the group, "My god; my god; I can't believe I've done that. It was awful; very awful…"

When Nichole saw who was rambling, she quickly called out, "Craig Stevenson." The man looked at Nichole with a trance like stare. "Are you okay, Mr. Stevenson?"

"I've hurt my son," Mr. Stevenson said. "I can't believe how careless I was. How stupid can I be?"

"Your son is hurt?" Jacob quickly asked. "Where is he? How bad is he injured?"

"No-no-no," Mr. Stevenson quickly muttered out. "Back when he was ten. We were fishing in a rowboat. A water moccasin got into the boat and as I was swinging at it with my oar, I hit my son and broke his jaw."

"About how long ago did this happen?" Sam questioned.

"He's twenty-seven now; so about seventeen years ago," Mr. Stevenson said. "What happened that day had always bothered me and today the memory of it is eating away at me. How could I have lived with myself for the past seventeen years, knowing what I had done?"

As Cat tried to console Mr. Stevenson Jacob asked the others, "You five set this up, didn't you?"

Nichole was the one to say, "You caught us. We knew you were here and we staged Cat's gunshot wound along with…"

"Okay, okay; obviously you five couldn't have set this up," Jacob said. "But a curse?"

"Hey, do you rather stick to your beliefs and someone dies because you didn't help or play it safe by helping and no one dies?" Vicki questioned.

"Okay, I like you better when you were twelve and didn't argue with me armed with logic," Jacob said.

Vicki smirked before saying, "Those days are long gone, baby."

Jacob ginned and shook his head before saying, "Fine, I'll help… and me helping doesn't mean that I believe in this curse… or any of what you told me."

"Of course," Vicki said with a grin across her face.

Everyone attention was drawn to Mr. Stevenson as he told Cat in a raised voice, "Please go. I want to be left alone."

Jacob quickly jumped ahead of him while saying, "Mr. Stevenson, I'm afraid we can't allow you to be alone right now."

"Stop harassing me or I'll call the police," Mr. Stevenson said angrily.

Jacob pulled out his badge and displayed it for him to see while saying, "I am the police, Mr. Stevenson."

"What is this? What's going on?" he demanded to know.

When Jacob hesitated for a response, Dean said, "Someone by the name of Craig is in danger of being murdered at this hotel… tonight. Unfortunately for us there are five Craigs staying here tonight and we don't have the last name of the correct Craig who's in danger."

Dean saw the curious look that he was getting from Jacob as Mr. Stevenson said, "Well, I'm not the Craig you're looking for and even if I was, I would welcome it for what I had done to my son."

"The Craig who is in danger was a witness to a crime and most likely is not even aware that he is a witness to something," Dean continued to say. "So there's a chance that you're in danger of being murdered and not even know about it."

Jacob went along with what was said and added, "Mr. Stevenson, for your protection, I'm going to insist that you come with me."

"And where are you taking me?" Mr. Stevenson questioned.

Instead of answering his questioned, he turned towards Vicki and said, "Vicki, go and see if there is a conference room available."

"I'm on it," Vicki said.

As Vicki was walking away, Jacob told the others, "Go find the other four Craigs and get them down here."

"You got it," Dean and Nichole answered. Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat then walked away while leaving Jacob and Mr. Stevenson alone.

When Vicki returned she told Jacob, "There is a conference room available, but it's costly to use. The clerk recommends using the break room where the soda and snack machines are. It can accommodate sixteen people and it's free."

"Alright; soon as everyone gets here, we'll go there," Jacob said.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N I know my fight scenes are weak, but I'll try to improve.**

On October 21, 1112, ten minutes after sunset, three hell-hounds had jumped out from the trees and shrubs and onto the two horses that Nevin, Buffy, Langley and Amber were riding. The left side of the both horses was quickly shredded at the neck and shoulder. The horses dropped instantly with their front legs collapsing first. Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley hit the ground hard.

Buffy and Amber got on their feet quickly while Nevin and Langley were more sluggish to get back up. Buffy and Amber were only on there feet for a few seconds when the three hell-hounds lunged at them. They both dove to the ground and rolled to invade the attack.

As Buffy was getting back on her feet, she spotted a long spear-shape tree branch within a few feet from her. When Amber got back on her feet, she glanced in the direction of her slayer's bag that was tied to the saddle of one of the dead horses. Nevin and Langley quickly drew their swords.

The three hell-hounds turned and as they lunged for Buffy and Amber a second time, Buffy dove in the direction of where she had seen the tree branch. Amber dove towards the slayer's bag. Nevin and Langley made their attacking moves, but were not quick enough to connect with the hell-hounds.

In a series of quick and graceful movements, Buffy got back on her feet; broke off a long piece of the tree branch with her slayer strength and without really looking, rammed the point of the tree branch through a hell-hound's head that was lunging at her. She jerked the branch out of the hell-hound just before another hell-hound lunge towards her. The second hell-hound was inches from her as she quickly drove the branch into the hell-hound's chest. Buffy was knocked to the ground when the dead hell-hound landed on top of her.

When Amber dove for the second time in the direction of the slayer's bag she rolled when she hit the ground. She quickly got back to her feet and ran quickly towards the bag. Just as she was approaching the bag, she dove for it. She grabbed it and rolled with it. As she was getting back on her feet, she glanced around to see where the three hell-hounds were. She looked over towards Buffy as Buffy was killing her second hell-hound. Amber caught a glimpse of the third hell-hound coming towards her from the corner of her eye. Nevin and Langley were near Amber and as Amber dove to evade the hell-hound's latest attack, the two poked and stabbed at the hell-hound with their swords.

The hell-hound turned its attention onto Nevin and Langley, but before the hell-hound had a chance to do any real damage, Buffy ran over and drove the branch through the hell-hound's back at the shoulders.

As the last hell-hound dropped with the branch sticking out of its back, Langley quickly glanced in all direction while questioning, "What were those… odd looking wolves?"

Buffy was gazing around herself as she said, "They were demons. Hell-hounds to be more precise. What I know about hell-hounds is that they don't attack randomly and it is always on command."

"Someone sent those things after us?" Nevin quickly said.

Buffy faced Nevin before saying, "It had appeared to have been after Amber and me. You and Langley were just here."

"Someone's trying to kill us?" Amber blurted out. "Who knows that we're here?"

"That's a question that I would very much like to have the answer to," Buffy said as she looked over at Amber. "And not really trying to change the subject, Amber, but you had made a common mistake that most slayers make."

"What mistake was that?" Amber asked.

"The only thing in the slayer's bag that would be any good against hell-hounds… if even that is the crossbow and unless the hell-hounds honor a time-out from you, you wouldn't have time to get it out and load it." Nevin and Langley gave Buffy a slightly puzzled look. "In short, you went to the slayer's bag when you shouldn't have."

"How was I supposed to have fought these things without a weapon?" Amber asked.

Buffy pulled the branch from the hell-hound's back while saying, "There are weapons all around you. If you want to survive you must learn how to spot them. I spotted this one growing off that tree over there."

"I'm beginning to understand how you live passed four years as a slayer," Nevin said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "Amber, I don't know what or who wants us dead, so from here on, we'll remain battle ready. So break out that crossbow; load it; carrying it and prepare to use it on my mark."

"So are we going hunting now or continuing to the castle," Amber questioned as she opened up the bag.

Buffy was getting out the device as she said, "We'll continue to the castle." She then hesitated before she continued to say, "That is still the direction that's showing an influence that will affect our dimension."

"Well, we're definitely walking the rest of the way," Langley said as he gazed at the horses' carcasses.

"How long will it take to walk there from here?" Buffy asked.

"Providing that we don't get attacked again by demons, we should be able to make it there before sunset," Nevin said.

"Okay; let's go." Buffy continued to say while walking past everyone. "Time's a wasting." Nevin slightly grinned and shook his head before catching up to her.

Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Park Green Hotel, Dean's entire group and the five Craigs had been gathered in the hotel's break room for almost two hours. Four of the Craigs were mumbling about what horrid things that they did to someone and wishing to be able to make things right; two of them had hinted to suicide as penance. Nichole, Cat and Vicki were making failing attempts to console them. Dean, Sam and Jacob were doing what they could as well, but they didn't have the consoling talents.

At the TEC headquarters, while following Willow's instruction, Giles was in the office while performing a two-hour-long incantation that will visualize any invisible objects or magic. However, the spell that he was casting had a very short lifespan. Once the spell was performed, Giles walked to and re-entered the conference room while concealing a tranquilizer gun with a tranquilizer dart that would bring down an elephant.

When Giles stepped in, Zoey said, "If you're going to hold me prisoner here at least you can do is give me something to eat and drink." Giles noticed Zoey wearing earrings with a gem setting that he didn't see before. Zoey saw Giles staring at her ears and gave him a curious look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Funny, I never noticed that you were wearing earrings before," Giles said.

"You can see them?" Zoey questioned with a slightly stun look.

"I can and I can't help, but to think that those earrings are you energy source."

"I can kill you with my bare hands and I will if you try to take my earrings."

"It's true that you can break me in half, but the slayer won't be gone forever," Giles pointed out. "You won't be able to break her in half."

"You seem to have a lot of faith in your slayer."

"You were the one who pointed out that it is unhealthy for vengeance demons to know us." Giles reminded her. "So, I'm going to give you one last opportunity to end this curse on your own. And if I remember right if we break the curse by breaking your energy source, you will be stripped of being a vengeance demon."

Zoey slightly huffed before saying, "Fine; you win." She then changed into her demon face. Immediately Giles saw Zoey's earrings glowed for a moment as she waved her hands. A second later, she changed back into her human face. "It's done. Now release me!"

"I would like to conform that with my group at the hotel and then I'll release you."

"Fine; do it," Zoey impatiently said.

Giles check for his cell phone before saying, "I left my cell phone at the office. I'll be back."

Zoey took a tired breath before saying, "Fine. I guess a few more minutes won't hurt me."

"I'll be back," Giles said as he walked towards the door.

"And soon, I hope," Zoey said just before Giles walked out.

In the hallway midway between the conference room and where Giles was heading was a Janitor pushing a large trashcan on wheels.

As Giles was approaching the janitor he saw a greenish glow emanating from the trashcan. After a second of hesitation, he walked towards the janitor at a fast pace; however, the spell ended before reaching the trashcan.

"Wait," Giles said to the janitor as he approached him.

"May I help you, sir?" the janitor questioned.

Giles peeked into the trashcan before questioning, "This garbage; what all is in here."

The janitor looked at him as if he had lost his mind before saying, "It's mostly the garbage from the cafeteria. Did you lose something?"

"Lose something?" Giles mocked. "Yes… well no, but I am looking for something valuable that could've been thrown away. Unfortunately I've never actually seen it so I can't really say what I'm looking for. Can you take this somewhere, where I can search through it later?"

The janitor continued to look at him as if he lost his mind while saying, "Sure. I'll take to the dock and put a sign on it, for it not to be thrown into the dumpster just yet."

"Thank you," Giles said. He and the janitor then went their respective ways.

Minutes before, at the Park Green Hotel, Dean's groups had noticed an abrupt change in each Craig's attitude.

"My god, what was I thinking?" was the chorus from the five Craigs.

"I have to call home," one of the Craigs continued to say.

"Yeah, me too," Another Craig said.

As three of the Craigs were getting out their phones, Nichole pulled out hers while whispering to her group, "I'm calling Giles to see if he ended the curse in someway."

Giles was getting to the office when he heard the phone ringing; however, the phone had stopped ringing by the time he got to it. Without really a break in his stride, Giles picked up his cell phone and scrolled through it for one of the four numbers that he had for Dean's group. Cat was the first name that Giles had come to.

Nichole was about to try calling Giles again when Cat's phone rang. When Cat glanced at who was calling, she said, "Hey, everyone, Giles is calling us." She then answered the phone. "Giles. Nichole just tried to call you."

"It must have been her call that I missed," Giles said. "Anyway, how is it going there?"

"We have the Craigs together in order to keep an eye on them and then just a minute or two ago, all of them seemed to have snapped out of their trances," Cat said. "Is it over?"

Cat heard a sigh of relief from Giles just before saying, "It is. You four can return."

Everyone in the break room saw the smile on Cat's face as she said, "We'll be there shortly." Cat then went to hang up her phone. "Mission accomplished, everyone. You five Craigs are now free to walk about the hotel with no protection."

Before anyone from Cat's group could respond, three of the five Craig announced over the phone, "I'm checking out of the hotel tonight and I'm coming home."

As the five Craigs were leaving the break room in a slight hurry Jacob said, "Okay, if I didn't witness the last two hours for myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm still having a hard time believing it, actually."

"Well, remember, meet us at the commentary before sunset," Nichole said just before her and her group left the break room.

At the TEC headquarters, Giles returned to the conference room and released Zoey from the spell.

In Twin Falls, the driver of the minivan that Willow, Dawn and two TEC agents were passengers of was being let through a quarantine blockade just one block from Valerie's house. A group of reporters snapped pictures of the van and its occupants as the van was being let through.

Dawn gazed back at the grouped at the blockade while saying "I feel like a star being chase by the paparazzi."

"I'm hoping that you are the star of this show, Dawnie," Willow commented. Dawn knew what Willow meant and gave Willow a smile.

A short time later, the driver parked the van in front of Valerie's house. Within seconds, everyone exited the van. They then went to the rear of the van to get out the eight newly purchased full-length mirrors. The leader of the quarantine group and three others joined them at the rear of the van.

Before one of the eight mirrors was taken out, the leader of the group said, "Ladies, I'm Leonard Kelsey. I'm in charge here."

Dawn was the first to offer her hand to shake hands while saying, "I'm Dawn Carter." Dawn and Leonard shook hands.

"And I'm Willow Rosenberg," she said.

Leonard extended his hand to Willow while saying, "It's nice to meet both of you lovely ladies."

"Likewise," Willow said as she and Leonard shook hands.

Dawn overlapped Willow's words with, "It's nice to meet you, Leonard."

"So, Dawn, I understand that you might have an unusual gift that might protect you from being affected by the anomaly," Leonard said.

"I don't know that for sure," Dawn said. She then glanced at the house while gesturing. "Is that the house?"

"It is," Leonard said.

"So, should I see if I am impervious to this time anomaly?" Dawn asked.

"That's actually a good suggestion," Leonard said. He pointed to Valerie's bedroom window on the second floor. "I want you to go through the house… walk normally I guess, and look out that window."

"Okay." Dawn said.

Dawn took a deep breath before walking towards the house at a brisk pace. Willow and Leonard followed Dawn to the edge of the yard and then stopped to watch. Few others grabbed the mirrors from the van and then joined Willow and Leonard at the edge of the yard.

Dawn made it to the screen door while appearing at a normal stride to the people watching. Everyone saw the resistance the screen door had as Dawn was opening it with a bit of force.

"Dawnie, is there a problem?" Willow yelled out.

Dawn faced the crowd that was watching her before saying loudly, "I'm okay, but the door feels as it's being held back by an invisible force… but a weak invisible force because I can move it. It's just difficult."

"I think I know why," Leonard yelled. "You're moving faster than the time around you. In a relative standpoint, you are moving quicker than the object around you can move and further you get inside the house that weak force… resistance actually, will become stronger. You might even feel a slight friction burn as you move about."

"How bad of a burn?" Dawn quickly asked.

"It's actually hard to say, but if it gets too bad, just come out," Leonard said.

"Okay," Dawn said. She then turned towards the front door.

Everyone watched Dawn as she turned the knob to the front door and push hard on it to get it open. Dawn stopped pushing on the door once it was wide enough to enter and as Dawn was entering, the door continued to open at a slow and steady pace to her and the spectators' perspective.

Dawn stepped up to the stairs and stopped. She gazed over the first floor for a few second before saying normally, "I can tell that this was once a nice house."

Dawn took a deep breath before ascending the stairs. Midway up the stairs she heard a continuous unidentifiable sound coming from behind her. She turned and saw the front door smashing against the wall. In slow motion to Dawn's perspective, she saw small pieces of drywall from where the doorknob had hit dropping to the floor. Without really saying it, she mouthed out the word, 'wow.'

Dawn continued up the steps and into the upstairs hallway. As she was making her way down the hall at a cautious pace, she felt the resistance of her walk and breathing.

By the time she reached Valerie's bedroom her breathing was becoming like drawing air through a straw. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the breathing technique that Willow had taught her to do during meditation in order to slow down her breathing. Valerie's bedroom door was already open, and once Dawn had felt that her breathing was more under control, she entered the room.

Dawn walked around the pentagram as she moved towards the window. As she walked she concentrated more on breathing than getting to the window quickly. After reaching the window, she looked out and waved.

When Leonard saw Dawn waving, he smiled and said, "This will work." He then motioned for Dawn to return.

Dawn again took her time walking from the window and into the hallway as she concentrated more on her breathing. By the time she was midway to the stairs, her breathing was becoming easier and she picked up her pace.

Willow was watching the front door and when she saw Dawn returning, she gave Dawn the thumbs up sign.

Dawn had a big grinned on her face as she approached. As Dawn stepped up to the Leonard, she asked, "So how long did it take me to get in and out?"

"It took you under fifteen minutes," Leonard said. "Did you experience any difficulties or concerns?"

"No difficulties, but one possible concern," Dawn said. Leonard just gave her an inquisitive look. "Once I get so close to the room with the pentagram it starts to feel as if I'm breathing through a very narrow straw. However, several years ago, Willow had shown me how to slow down my breathing so I can deal with it."

"Alright, but if you feel as if you can't deal with it, you are to get out of the house as soon as possible," Leonard said. Dawn just nodded her head. "Well, I guess you should start setting up the mirrors to prepare for that…" He cleared his throat. "That gaglore."

Dawn grinned while questioning, "You don't believe, do you?"

"I have seen some weird things in my life… this anomaly at this house for one, but I have never seen a demon," Leonard said. "But I am trying to keep an open mind."

"It only takes one for you to become a believer," Willow said.

"Oh, that I'm sure of," Leonard said with a grin. "Anyway, Dawn, you should get set up."

"Okay," Dawn said before turning towards someone holding one of the mirrors. Once she was handed the mirror, along with the hammer and nails, she headed back to the house. At a normal pace, Dawn carried the mirror into the house and up the steps. She wasn't midway to the bedroom from the steps, when the mirror cracked in her hands. She stopped in her tracks while being shocked over what happened. "O-kay. What in hell just happened?" Dawn shook it off and took a couple more steps. She stopped again when the mirror shattered in her hands. As she went to lean the mirror against the wall, the piece separated from the frame and dangled in midair. "Okay, that would be awesome to see if I didn't need that." Dawn put the frame, the hammer and the nails down. When she looked at the dangling pieces again, she saw that it had dropped a quarter of an inch. She shook her head before turning and walking back towards the steps.

When Willow saw Dawn leaving the house, she glanced at her watch. As Dawn stepped up to her, Willow asked, "You hung the first mirror already?"

Leonard was walking up to Dawn and Willow when Dawn said, "I never got the chance to hang it… it shattered while I was carrying it towards the room. Hey, since it broke on its own do you think that I'll have seven years bad luck?"

Willow was in deep thought as Leonard stepped up and said, "I should've foreseen that."

"Foreseen what?" Dawn questioned.

"The closer you are to the core of the anomaly the faster you are traveling by your surrounding's perspective," Leonard said.

"Can you put that in terms that even I could understand?" Dawn asked.

"In your mind, you were walking normally, but in reality relative of where you were, you were carrying the mirror at a considerably fast speed and the mirror broke under the stress of that speed," Leonard said.

"Well, since I'll break the mirrors if I take them in the house, how do we get them in there?" Dawn questioned.

"I'll get a group together and we'll do it," Willow said.

"You do it?" Dawn mocked. "If you do it, you'll lose time."

"Just a few hours and we actually do have a few hours to spare," Willows said. "And on the plus side, to me it will just feel like a few minutes and it will beat standing around twiddling my thumbs for the moment to get here."

"Okay, Willow, to make sure that not too much time is wasted, I'll send six people in with you," Leonard said.

"The hammer and nails are in the upstairs hallway, next to the mirror frame," Dawn said. "Should I go back in there and hammer the nail to the wall?"

"You would most likely damage the wall even if you would tap the nail," Leonard said.

"How would I do that?" Dawn said.

"While you are in the house, you are moving faster than the surroundings," Leonard reminded her. "As far as the nail and wall are concern, you will be striking the nail at more than hundred miles per hour."

Dawn shook her head while saying, "Okay, I watch too many cartoons with Hunter. I just visualized terrified cartoon faces on the nail and wall as I imagine myself hammering nails into the wall."

Willow grinned while saying, "Dawnie, while we hang the mirror, perhaps you should read over your notes again on the incantation."

Dawn grinned while mocking, "I guess it will beat twiddling my thumbs for the moment to get here."

"There's the spirit." Willow then faced the seven people holding mirrors. "Okay, everyone with a mirror in your hand, follow me."

When the seven looked at Leonard, Leonard nodded. As Willow and the seven walked towards the house, Dawn went to the van.

Ten minutes before sunset in Washington D.C., Jacob was joining Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat at one of the largest graveyards in the area. Cat and Nichole were dressed as homeless people.

When Jacob stepped up to the group, he looked over what Cat and Nichole had on and questioned, "Is there a reason why you two are dressed like that?"

"Buffy pointed out that in major cities… which includes our nation's capital vampires will try to keep a low profile by attacking homeless people," Cat said.

"Of course if a vampire is hungry enough, keeping a low profile is not a priority," Nichole added.

"It's not even a priority if you're in a rural area," Dean also added.

"So you two are the bait," Jacob asked as he gestured towards Cat and Nichole.

"Unless you want to dress up and be bait," Cat jokingly said.

"Although I'm skeptical of the existence of vampires, I'm going to play it safe and pass on being bait," Jacob said. He then gazed around. "So is Buffy with you four?"

"She hasn't returned from her trip," Nichole said.

"We're patrolling without big sister today," Cat added. "Of course we told Giles that we were going out for a bite to eat."

"Giles don't know we're out here?" Sam quickly questioned.

"Giles would just list the dire consequences if we would have told him that we were patrolling without Buffy, "Nichole said.

"Okay, who's Giles?" Jacob asked.

"Back when Buffy was starting out as the slayer, Giles was her watcher," Nichole said. "Now he's actually one of the bigwigs at the watcher's council. He became a bigwig when he helped rebuild the council after it was destroyed by the First Evil eleven years ago."

"Giles is here though," Cat added. "He's helping us as we help Buffy and he would've never agreed to us being out here… at least this soon without Buffy."

"Especially you with a bullet wound," Nichole said.

"Okay, I'm starting to compile a list in my head of reasons why we shouldn't be out here without Buffy," Sam commented.

"Nichole and I have slayer's strength, so we'll be fine alone." Cat then mumbled barely loud enough for Jacob to hear. "Unless we stumble across a good size vamp-nest."

Jacob gave Cat a curious look before shaking it off and asking, "Cat, how is your arm by the way?"

"Oh, I actually feel great considering that my arm was pierced by a bullet," Cat commented.

"So what did the former watcher say about it?" Jacob asked.

"Giles doesn't know yet," Cat said. "I put on a shirt that covered the bandages."

"So you're hiding your injury from Giles," Jacob commented. "I'm beginning to think that being here is a bad idea with or without the existence of vampires."

"I'm fine," Cat insistently said as she flexed her muscles of her injured arm.

When Jacob saw a very slight wince of discomfort, he said, "Alright. I believe you."

"Okay, now let's start at where we dust the last few vampires and move out from there," Nichole said. Jacob just motioned for her to go.

Cat trailed behind everyone while slightly rubbing her injuring as they walked into the cemetery.


	15. Chapter 15

On October 21, 1112, around noon, Nevin slightly deviated from the direction that they were heading and led Buffy and Amber to bushes with edible berries that wasn't far from a nearby brook. Once there, the four took time out to eat. Just as everyone was about to get his or her fill, Langley was somewhat spooked by a large flock of birds that abruptly flew past them while zigzagging around the trees.

Buffy and Amber saw the concern expression on Nevin's face as well. Before either one had a chance to ask, Nevin practically whispered, "Ready your weapons and take cover."

Buffy and Amber stayed together and squatted behind a bush. Nevin and Langley had spread out before ducking behind a bush with their swords drawn. All four sat silently while being hidden within the foliage for a few minutes. Buffy saw that Amber was getting restless and was forming her mouth to speak when a 'rustling through the trees' sound was heard. Buffy quickly put her finger to her lips to tell Amber not to speak.

Nevin and Langley were in the perfect position to see the eight soldiers from the castle walking in a manner as if they were looking for something or someone. Nevin immediately recognized the men as being fellow soldiers from the same castle. He was in motion to make his presence known, but stopped when he saw Thomas, an estrange friend and Rose, a powerful clairvoyant who was dressed in a shaman robe. As he was concealing himself further five more soldiers entered his sight.

Langley had recognized everyone as well and without really knowing better, he came out from behind the bush while calling out, "Edward."

"Oh, bloody hell," Nevin mumbled. As he quickly got on his feet he called out, "Everybody, stand your ground!"

Buffy and Amber had taken that as to remain hidden from sight. Thomas and his group were gazing upon Langley, but turned to face Nevin once he yelled. Nevin walked into everyone's view with his sword drawn.

Edward, the leader of the thirteen soldiers, stepped closer to Nevin while questioning, "Shouldn't you and your men be across the countryside by now?"

"Something interfered," Nevin said. "We're here."

Edward gazed around before asking, "Where are your men?"

"They're out there somewhere," Nevin assured Edward. Langley gave Nevin a confused look; however, he knew better then to question Nevin. "Good luck spotting them."

Rose was whispering into Thomas' ear as Edward asked, "What's going on, Nevin?"

"Interesting enough, that was what I was going to ask you," Nevin said.

"You and your men are the ones who aren't where they supposed to be," Edwards said.

Edward also wore a ring with the letters 'WH' and Nevin was noticing that ring for the first time on Edward's finger as he was saying, "That's true I suppose…"

Edward saw that Nevin had noticed his ring. "I see that you noticed that I'd joined the Order recently." Nevin glanced around while looking to see if Edward's men were also wearing rings. "I'll save you the trouble, Nevin. Other than you and Langley we are all part of the Order. I understand that you turned down the invitation to join the Order a few years back."

"I turned down the Order because I don't trust them and I never will," Nevin said. "Anyway, what is the Order doing out here?"

Before Edwards had a chance to respond, Thomas stepped closer to Nevin while saying, "Nevin and Langley are separated from their men. Nevin's troops are four days away." He then yelled out for Buffy and Amber to hear. "I also know that the two women who we seek are in hearing distance, so you two are to come out now."

Buffy shook her head to tell Amber not to as Nevin demanded to know, "Why are you seeking those two women?"

"They threaten the kingdom and you and Langley had join forces with them against the kingdom," Thomas said. "Edward, kill those two traitors and then…"

"Hold on a minute!" Edward blurted out. "Nevin and Langley are two of the most loyal men to the kingdom."

"You swore a blood oath," Thomas exclaimed. "So kill them!"

Edward saw a couple of his men moving towards Nevin while reaching for their swords. While glancing around at his men, he commanded, "Everyone, put your swords away! No one is killing anyone, until I get some answers of what in hell is going on here."

Nevin glared at Thomas while saying, "That's what I like to know also. So tell me Thomas. Why is the order of Wolfram & Hart after the two women who we've been traveling with?"

Before Thomas could answer, Buffy stood up and stepped into view. As Amber was following suit, Buffy questioned with fire in her eyes, "You're from Wolfram & Hart?"

Everyone saw the vengeance in Buffy's eyes as Buffy was moving closer. Nevin was confused of the situation and before he had a chance to ask a question, Thomas blurted out, "There they are. Now kill them!"

"Everyone, stand your ground," Edward counter-ordered. Buffy continued to walk towards Thomas with fire in her eyes. "No one is being killed."

"He who doesn't obey me, will be killed," Thomas warned. "Now kill them! Now!"

Edward got tired of Thomas bellowing out orders and pulled out his sword. His men had followed suit, but stopped in their tracks when Edward placed the blade of his sword against Thomas' throat. Before Edward could say or do anything else, Buffy shoved Edward out of the way and while pulling her punch she just bloodied Thomas' nose.

Thomas was knocked to the ground and as he looked up while holding his bloody nose, Buffy said through clench teeth, "You sent those hell-hounds after us, you son of a bitch."

"Hell-hounds?" was the echo from the Edward's group.

"It wasn't me, I swear," Thomas claimed while trembling. "Please don't kill me."

"How much I would love to kill you, I can't," Buffy said. "I can; however, start breaking your bones one by one until you tell me why Wolfram & Hart wants me and my friend dead. And I'm so looking forward to your continued resistance to talk."

Thomas gave Buffy a confused look before commenting while sounding almost as a question, "You're not here to stop us."

"You think I'm here to stop you," Buffy mocked. "Who do you think I am?"

"You are a slayer," Rose was the one to say. Buffy turned and faced her. "An old slayer… but you are a slayer none the less. I'm a little bit confused of your friend though."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"I'm Rose and I felt your presence appearing out of nowhere two evenings ago," she said.

"You're a psychic… possibly even a witch, and being that you are in cahoots with Wolfram & Hart you alerted them of my presence," Buffy commented

"Cahoots?" Rose, Edward and a few others questioned.

"It's doesn't matter, but what will matter to you is that, I'm not here to put an end to your activities," Buffy said. "So you can call off wanting us dead."

"You might not have originally come here to stop us, but being a slayer you will now make it your mission to try," Rose said. "As long as you are alive and in this region, you are a threat to the kingdom."

"You mean I'm a threat to Wolfram & Hart," Buffy corrected. "And as I said, I'm not interested in Wolfram & Hart's activities."

"You say that now, but will you tomorrow when…" Thomas was only able to get out.

"Hush, Thomas," Rose exclaimed.

Buffy gave Thomas and then Rose a curious look before saying, "Wolfram & Hart is planning something big. That's why the Order sees me as a threat."

Nevin stepped up while saying, "The slayer battles demons. The only reason why the slayer would be seen as a threat to Wolfram & Hart would be if Wolfram & Hart would be in league with demons. Thomas, I now understand how your dad was very knowledgeable on vampires, slayers, demons and other dimensions."

"Trust me, there's no real alliance between the demons and Wolfram & Hart," Buffy said. "They do; however… actually I can't finish that sentence without causing an influence to my origin. In fact, this encounter alone is most likely sending a huge ripple effect through my origin." Except for Nevin and Amber, everyone gave Buffy a confused look as Buffy turned towards Thomas. "You and I have a few things to discuss in private so get up. You and I are going for a short walk."

Without attempting to get up, Thomas commanded, "Edward, kill her."

Edward dropped his sword on the ground next to where Thomas sat. He then took off the ring to the Order while saying, "Kill her yourself, Thomas." He tossed the ring next to the sword. "I'm out." Most of Edward's men had followed suit by taking off their rings and tossing them to the ground.

"You people pledged a blood oath," Thomas reminded them. "You can't just simply decide that you're out. There will be consequences if you try."

"I'll worry about the consequences when the time comes," Edward said.

"What an interesting turn of events," Buffy said. "You are now the one who is outnumbered. Now get up so we can have that private talk!"

Thomas stood up before saying with fear in his eyes, "W-w-we can talk here."

"I can tell that you are afraid of me," Buffy commented. "Which is good. It means that you know what I can do to you. Now walk before I show you what I can do to you."

Thomas swallowed from being nervous before walking in a random direction. He had only taken a few steps before asking, "How far are we walking to."

Buffy pointed to a tree that was twenty feet away before saying, "Walk to that tree, and once we get there, I want to know what Wolfram & Hart is up to."

"You said you weren't interested," Thomas said.

"I'm interested when Wolfram & Hart wants me dead because of it," Buffy retorted. While being only a short distance from the tree, she glanced back to see how far she was from the group. As she looked forward again, she said, "We're far enough. Now start talking."

"The order will kill me if I say anything," Thomas said.

"And I will start breaking your bones one by one if you don't," Buffy pointed out. "Before I'm done, you will be begging me to kill you."

Thomas took a breath before saying, "The Order is bringing forth a seer from the Cara-Torous dimension."

"And?" Buffy questioned while motioning with her hands to continue.

"The seers from the Cara-Torous dimension are much more powerful then any seers from this dimension," Thomas said.

Buffy again questioned, "And?"

Thomas gave Buffy a confused look while saying, "You act as if that's not enough."

"I lived on a hell-mouth; I've seen worse," Buffy said.

Everyone, including Buffy and Thomas heard Rose uttering out loud, "You're from a hell-mouth?" Everyone, except for Buffy and Thomas heard Rose as she continued to say while speaking in a normal volume, "The first hell-mouth is not supposed to rise up for another eight hundred years in an undiscovered and far away land." Amber gave Rose a fearful look as if she and Buffy were busted while Langley gave Nevin a stunned look. Rose saw Buffy storming towards her. When Buffy was only a few feet away, Rose said, "I'm a seer and you thought I wasn't going to spy on your conversation."

Buffy turned towards a soldier nearest her while demanding, "Give me your sword." When the soldier glanced at Edward, Edward nodded.

As the soldier was handing Buffy his sword, Rose questioned, "You're going to kill me for spying on you?"

Buffy turned towards Rose with the sword while saying, "Give me a reason not to." Thomas was walking up to the group again. "Tell me something that Thomas doesn't know and it better be worth Wolfram & Hart attacking me over."

"The Order is searching for a great wizard," Rose said.

"You are trying to kill me over a man that can perform magic?" Buffy questioned as she move the sword's blade closer to Rose's throat.

"This person isn't just any wizard," Rose quickly said.

"I don't care if you are looking for Merlin from Camelot!" Rose gave Buffy a stunned look for guessing correctly. Buffy lowered the sword while questioning, "You're looking for King Arthur's wizard?"

"How is it possible that you know of King Arthur and Merlin?" Rose questioned.

"The myth's of King Arthur is worldwide," Buffy claimed.

"Myth? You think King Arthur's a myth," Rose questioned.

"You're telling me that King Arthur was real?" Buffy questioned.

"He was real, but a month ago we magically removed the memories of King Arthur and his court from time and fabricated different ones to take their places," Rose said. "No one, except for a few individuals at Wolfram & Hart is supposed to know the truth."

"Even if Merlin was real, wasn't he killed?" Buffy asked.

Amber was the one to say, "There are few versions of King Arthur and one of the versions states that before Camelot fell, Merlin was trapped in time by King Arthur's half sister."

"And Wolfram & Hart is looking to un-trap him," Buffy commented. Rose just grinned and nodded. "Okay, I can see why this is a big deal to Wolfram & Hart, but my only concern is killing two vampires… possibly more than two. Once all of the vampires are dead, my friend and I are returning home, which is far from here. As far as you searching for Merlin, have fun searching for him. Hell, go hog wild and search for the Holy Grail as well. Just leave Amber and me out of your plans."

"You expect me to believe that you are just after vampires," Rose questioned.

"Amber and I are not after just any vampire," Buffy said. "We're after the vampire from our origin and the ones that got sired because of it. Finding them is more important to me than what Wolfram & Hart is up to."

"You're looking for the vampire that I felt appearing from out of nowhere a day before I felt you," Rose said. "I never made the connection."

Amber was the one to quickly ask, "You can sense the vampire?"

"I can see the vampire; along with the people who was sired because of her," Rose said.

"Rose, Wolfram & Hart wants us gone," Buffy began. "And the faster Amber and I can kill these vampires, the faster we can oblige Wolfram & Hart. You can make that happen a lot quicker if you show us to the vampires."

"Do I have your word that you will leave this region if I show you to the vampires?" Rose questioned.

"You do," Buffy said as she gave back the sword to the proper soldier.

"I will lead you to the vampires," Rose said.

"William, one of Nevin's men was turned into a vampire," Buffy said. "We were in the middle of tracking him when our two groups encountered each other. We should start with him before he gets inside the castle."

Rose closed her eyes and concentrated on seeing William with her vision for a moment. As she opened her eyes, she said while pointing in the direction slightly off from the direction of the castle, "I see him. He is only an hour walk from here in that direction."

"Take me to him," Buffy said.

"I will," Rose said as she glanced at the soldiers around her. "I don't think that we need all of these troops though."

Before Buffy could respond, Edwards said, "I feel that my men and I will be more in the way than any help anyway. We'll return to the castle."

Buffy pointed to Thomas while saying, "Take him with you."

"Okay, Thomas, you heard the lady," Edward said.

"Buffy, I would like to continue with you and Amber," Nevin said followed by Langley. Rose gave Buffy a slightly puzzled look from hearing Buffy's name for the first time. Rose just shook it off.

Buffy grinned before telling Nevin and Langley, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

It took a minute for everyone to get organize and once they were, Thomas, Edward and Edward's men set off in the direction of the castle. Buffy, Amber, Nevin, Langley and Rose set off in a direction that was not even forty-five degrees from the direction Edward and his group were heading. Amber carried the slayer's bag.

Buffy was in a deep thought when everyone had set off walking. The two groups were barely a hundred feet away from each other when Amber saw Buffy in her thoughts.

"Buff, are you okay?" Amber questioned.

Buffy nodded before asking, "Merlin was a good wizard, wasn't he?"

Rose gave Buffy a curious look as Amber said, "As far as I know, he was."

"Okay, if Merlin is good then I have to say, releasing a good wizard from whatever force is holding him is not Wolfram & Hart's style." The curious look that Rose was giving Buffy had changed into a nervous one. "Rose, why does Wolfram & Hart want to release Merlin?"

"I'm not allowed to answer anymore of your questions," Rose said.

"You're only helping me so I can locate the vampires more quickly," Buffy pointed out. "I don't need you and if you don't answer my question, I'm certain that Nevin will lend me his sword."

Rose sighed before saying, "We don't want to release Merlin."

"Then why look for him?" Buffy asked. When Rose again hesitated to answer, Buffy stopped walking. "Nevin, give me your sword"

Okay-okay," Rose blurted out. Nevin had grabbed the handle, but stopped before drawing the sword. Rose took a breath before continuing to say, "Wolfram & Hart wants to transfer Merlin's powers to one of our own wizards. Of course this will result in Merlin instant death."

"Now that sounds more like Wolfram & Hart's style," Buffy said before continuing to walk. "And what I said before about not interfering with Wolfram & Hart's activities still holds true." Rose just gave Buffy a curious look for a brief moment as they walked.

There was very little talk during their hour-long walk to where William was hiding out.

As they were walking towards the door to the four-room farmhouse, horses were heard from a nearby barn that was several feet from the house. Nevin stopped walking and as he pointed towards the barn he said, "Langley, see how many horses there are in the barn."

Before Langley had a chance to respond, Rose said, "There are three horses. The owners of the horses… five of them are dead in the house by William."

"We can double up again with the horses," Buffy said.

"Langley, you and Rose ready the horses," Nevin said. "Buffy, Amber and I will take care of William and any… newly changed vampires."

"It's newly sired and chances are even if they had been sired by William last night, they're not even awake yet," Buffy said.

"And that makes it easier on us," Amber added. "All we have to do is destroy the bodies."

"Okay, we all know what we need to do," Nevin said.

"Let me go first," Buffy said. Nevin just gestured for Buffy to go first. "Amber, ready the crossbow. And hand me a stake."

"You got it," Amber said. Nevin pulled out his sword.

As Langley and Rose walked towards the barn, Buffy, Amber and Nevin continued to the house.

The front door was on the southern side of the house and Buffy used her slayer's strength to break down the door completely. William was waiting to pounce on the group that he heard approaching and when the sunlight soaked the area near the door, he jumped back into the darker part of the room.

When Buffy stepped in while still standing within the sunlight, William growled at her. He then spotted Amber and Nevin stepping in behind Buffy.

Amber raised the crossbow and fired it; however, the arrow missed the heart by an inch. Buffy immediately charged William. With an arrow sticking out of his chest, William dodged Buffy's attack and made a counter attack.

Amber reloaded the crossbow as Buffy and William exchanged punches and kicks while dodging or blocking where they could. Nevin moved further into the room while looking for an opportunity to strike with the sword. Amber aimed the crossed bow again while looking for an opportunity to pull the trigger.

William got in a lucking kick and knocked Buffy into Nevin. Amber fired for a second time, but William saw it coming and turned sideways while taking the arrow on the arm. Buffy saw the opportunity to kick Williams just behind the knee and took it. William went down and before he had a chance to recover, Buffy drove the stake into William's heart. Buffy rose to her feet as William exploded into dust.

"Okay, that was slightly more intense than I expected," Buffy said.

Nevin opened a door to one of the rooms and after looking inside he said, "We have two bodies in here."

Buffy and Amber followed Nevin into the room. Amber had just stepped into the room when Nevin brought his sword up and swung it downward to decapitate one of the bodies.

There were three men and two women and once each one was decapitated, Nevin and Langley buried each one in its own shallow grave. All five burials took two hours and once the last one was done, Buffy said, "There's probably a good two-day ride back to where we will find the remaining vampires and although my slayer's ability will allow me to go a long time without sleep, I'm pretty exhausted for going two days without sleep already. We should rest here for a few hours before continuing on."

"Thank you, Buffy," came spilling out of Amber's mouth. Buffy just gave Amber a smile.

"I guess we didn't need to ready the horses then," Langley commented.

"Put the horses back in the barn, but leave the saddles on them," Nevin said. "We won't be here all that long."

Within a short time everyone was in the house and except for Rose, they found a place to sleep. Within thirty minutes Nevin began dreaming again of the memory of when his seventeen-year-old sister had told him that he was to meet a slayer from a world with flying coaches.

Buffy had just begun her REM sleep and like many times before Buffy was pulled into someone else's dream. Buffy was disoriented at first when she saw Nevin and his dying teenaged sister, but she soon realized at what she was seeing. Buffy gazed around at the décor of the bedroom for a few seconds before her attention was drawn behind her when she heard a female voice with a British accent saying, "Aircrafts, planes, jets, Lockheed and Boeing 747 to only name a few." Buffy turned to see who was talking. "All the words for an aircraft were coming at me that day, but like a few people talking at the same time, all I heard was noise. That was when I chose the phrase flying coaches."

Buffy glanced back at Nevin and the teenaged girl who was lying on the bed before saying, "You're Nevin's sister."

"Yes. My name is Elizabeth and I know who you are Buffy Ann Summers of the year 2013. I've been waiting for this chance to warn either you or the watcher's council since my fourteenth birthday. When Wolfram & Hart killed me, I knew I had this one last chance to warn you. That's why I have been giving Nevin this dream for almost year. Luckily for Nevin, Nevin doesn't really remember his dreams or this would've been torture for him."

"Wolfram & Hart killed you?" Buffy questioned. "But I thought you died from a disease."

"The members of Wolfram & Hart are the ones who infected me with it. They foresaw that I was going to be a powerful prophet for the watcher's council. They saw me as a threat to them along with foreseeing that it was me who warned you."

"Warn me; warn me about what?"

"Warn you that you were being manipulated into activating all the potential-slayers' as active slayers to win the fight against the First Evil."

"What do you mean that I was being manipulated to do that?"

"All the potential-slayers combined are as equally important if not more important than the slayer herself. Without the potential-slayers as potential-slayers, the slayer line will completely end. My first prophecy was a prophecy of you causing the slayer's line to end while trying to protect it from the First Evil."

"I'm not understanding as to how I caused… or might have caused the slayer's line to end," Buffy said.

"Before my death, I knew what was going to happen. I dreamt it from beginning of the First Evil's uprising against you to its end, but I lacked the knowledge of the future words to describe it properly. However, since my death, I know and understand each word of your time so clearly. I wanted you to know this so you wouldn't think that I was this smart in life." Buffy smiled as Elizabeth continued to say, "You know of the first slayer, but what you don't know is that the first slayer was not the only one that the Shadow People bestowed the slayer gene upon. There were many others; men and woman and their mission were to pass the slayer gene to the next generation. The slayer gene acts like a recessive gene though. As you well know that the slayers or potential-slayers can only be girls; however, both parents must pass the slayer gene to the daughter before the daughter can become a potential-slayer at adolescent. When a potential-slayer is chosen, the two female genes in a woman are magically transformed which gives the slayer her abilities. Also once a slayer is chosen that slayer can no longer pass the potential-slayer gene to the next generation even if she lives long enough to have kids. Of course it would have taken a few generations… I'm thinking five generations before the entire slayer's line had seen its last slayer. The First Evil is patient though; it would have waited that hundred and something years before rising up again."

"My god," Buffy uttered out. "I almost destroyed the line."

"So you did get the warning not to do it?" Buffy nodded while giving her a curious look. "I only ask is that when I had first dreamed of this moment at the age of fourteen, you had activated all of the potential-slayers to become active slayers, but the following dreams of this moment since, you didn't do it. You had warned your younger self in time and now the time had come to send that warning to your younger self; otherwise, you won't get that warning."

"Elizabeth, I have activated about fifty potential-slayers' abilities within the past ten years by charming pieces of jewelry that each of them wore. Did I hurt the slayer's line by doing that?"

Elizabeth grinned before saying, "No. You can't deplete the well completely if you occasionally draw one bucket of water from it. So activating fifty potential-slayers every so many years from thousands won't harm the slayer's line. However, you should keep those numbers as small as you can during those times."

"Well, should I know anything else? Like who do I give the message to?"

"In your time, the watcher's council is here in England, but as of now, it's located in Paris France. Go to Paris and tell what you know to Elaine Blanc. She's a short woman… a couple of inches shorter than you." Buffy just smirked. "She's forty-years-old. She has light brown hair with a touch of gray and brown eyes. And she's a respected member of the watcher's council." Elizabeth then described the buildings and the streets to where Buffy will find Elaine.

When Elizabeth was done, Buffy questioned, "You do know that if I do this, I will be violating the Time Enforcement Commission's prime directive of not changing history?"

"If you don't, you will be allowing the slayer's line to wither away like crops in a field that had used up its fertile soil. Generations later, when the slayer's line is gone, the First Evil will rise again and this time turning this dimension into a hell-dimension."

Buffy sighed before saying, "Okay, okay, I got the message. I can't allow the slayer's line to wither away."

"You are being watched by the Wolfram & Hart's witch's coven…" Elizabeth said.

"There's a Wolfram & Hart seer with us now," Buffy interrupted with. "Her name is Rose."

"Rose is not the only one watching your activity, so you must not speak to anyone of what you had learned until you are face to face with Elaine. Only then will your message will make it to you younger self."

"I should have other opportunities to get that message to my younger self," Buffy pointed out.

"Those other warnings will be stopped along the way before reaching you; however, you must send those other warnings to your younger self anyway at every opportunity. It will throw the First Evil off of where to search for the warning that warns you. In fact the destruction of the watcher's council had a duel purpose. It was to leave you and your small group alone in the dark and to destroy any warning that they had before you could be warned not to activate all of the potential-slayers as slayers."

"So I'm going to Paris," Buffy commented.

"You need to wake up now. Rose is beginning to sense something about your dream."

Buffy abruptly woke to see Rose looking at her curiously while standing in the doorway of the room. Rose tried to play it off by saying, "You were talking loudly in your sleep. I heard you from the other room and I thought that there was something wrong. Did you have a nightmare?"

Buffy hesitated before saying, "It actually depends on your point of view. Anyway, how long have I been asleep?"

"Less than an hour," Rose said.

"I can stand to get another less than an hour of sleep before getting up… perhaps even a whole hour."

Rose gave Buffy a confused look as Buffy rolled over and closed her eyes again. Rose then shrugged it off and went back into the other room.


	16. Chapter 16

Friday, April 12, 2013, thirty minutes after sunset in Washington D.C., Dean's group had given up inside the graveyard when they had realized that there were no fresh graves and took to the streets. Jacob knew where a homeless shelter was and with Nichole and Cat walking a block ahead from the rest of the group, they all headed towards shelter.

Two women and a man were working the shelter that night. The women were severing soup. Sitting at the dining tables were ten adult men, seven adult women, four teenaged boys above the age of seventeen and a fifteen-year-old girl. The teenaged girl sat with her parents and all three were dressed nicely as if they were only out for dinner. A seat was open next to the teenaged girl along with a few other open seats in various places around the room. Two of the men weren't eating and were chatting with whoever would talk to them.

When Nichole and Cat reached the shelter, Cat went inside to have a look around while Nichole remained outside to look around. The fifteen-year-old girl and three others turned towards Cat as Cat stopped just inside the doorway and scanned the room.

The male worker saw Cat and stepped up to her while saying, "Welcome. I'm Ken. And you are?"

Cat hesitated for a second before saying, "No offense, Ken, but I'm not ready to give out my name just yet."

"It's okay," Ken said. "But if you are hiding from the cops and they come here looking for you, I won't lie to them by telling them that you weren't here."

"I'm not hiding from the cops," Cat said.

Ken said in a tone as if to only humor her, "That's good."

Cat caught the tone and insisted, "I'm not hiding out from the cops or anyone else."

"I wasn't challenging what you had told me," Ken said with the same tone.

"I can tell in your tone that you think that I'm lying to you," Cat pointed out.

"Does it really matter to you what I think," Ken questioned.

Cat took a deep breath before saying, "No; not really."

"Well, since you're not going to tell me your name then I'll call you Sally and come in Sally. You're welcome to get a bowl of soup, Sally."

"Okay, I knew a Sally and I can't deal with you calling me by that name, so call me Cat.

"Cat? And Cat is your actual name?"

"It's my actual nickname and what I prefer to be called since I was fifteen."

Ken grinned before saying, "Okay, Cat. Go help yourself to the soup. Oh and if you ever need to talk, people around here say that I have a soothing way. In fact a lot of people call me the councilor." Cat politely grinned and nodded before walking away.

Cat stepped up and got a bowl of soup. When she turned, she saw a few open seats, but chose the seat next to the fifteen-year-old girl. As Cat stepped up, she asked the girl and her parents, "Does anyone mind that I sit here?"

The father gestured for Cat to sit while saying, "Help yourself."

"Thanks," Cat said before taking a seat.

"I'm Jennifer," the mother said. She then gestured towards her husband and daughter. "My husband Briton and our daughter Brie."

"I'm Cat," she said as she saw a noticeable bruise on Brie's face near her left temple. Her slightly long hair was partly covering it up. "Brie, did someone hit you?"

Brie shook her head before saying, "Last night I had another one of my nightmares. I was sleepwalking too and I fell and hit my head. I woke everyone up with a terrible crash."

"Sweetie, you woke everyone up with the several crashing sounds before that," Jennifer said. "And you were sleep-fighting rather than sleepwalking. You destroyed two lamps and the TV and that's why your Aunt April had kicked us out of her house."

"It wasn't my fault," Brie insisted as Cat was looking at her as if she was trying to figure something out. "I can't help getting those nightmares."

"Well it's certainly not my fault, Brie," Jennifer said.

"Jennifer!" Briton said. "It's not like she can control what she dreams."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have let her watched 'The Mummy.'" Jennifer said.

"I've didn't watch 'The Mummy,' Mom," Brie retorted.

"So that's a coincidence that the night that your dad rented 'The Mummy' was the night your nightmares started," Jennifer questioned.

"I did not watch 'The Mummy' and my dreams are always about me fighting vampires and not about mummies," Brie said somewhat loudly while getting everyone's attention."

"Keep your voice down," Jennifer quickly hissed as Cat gazed the room. "In fact, just shut up and eat, Brie."

After a second everyone went back to his or her own activity except for the two men who weren't eating. Cat saw that those two were focusing on Brie. Cat then watched one of the two men getting up and walking over to one of the women who were serving soup.

Outside the shelter, Dean, Sam and Jacob were stepping up to Nichole. As Jacob glance around he asked, "Where's Cat?"

"She went inside to look around," Nichole said. "I think we should patrol around this block."

"We could call it a night," Jacob hinted to.

"We came out to patrol and that what we're going to do," Nichole said. "We've been in D.C. for two nights and during both nights Buffy had us out until two in morning."

"And how many vampires did you guys kill?" Jacob asked.

"Two the first night and one last night," Nichole said. "Hey, we can go to that demon bar."

Jacob gave Nichole a curious look as Dean quickly said, "That we won't be doing without Buffy being with us."

"It was just a thought," Nichole said.

"Nichole, perhaps you should walk around the block," Sam suggested. "We'll trail behind you." Nichole nodded before turning to walk away.

Inside the shelter, Cat had been staring at the man and the woman as they spoke to one another.

Brie saw as to how focus Cat was while watching the worker and asked, "Are you an undercover cop?"

Cat and Brie's parents gave Brie a curious look before Cat shook her head while saying, "No. Why do you ask that?"

"You're definitely not hungry," Brie began. She then glanced towards the worker. "And you seem to be interested in the woman who's presently walking our way."

Cat turned to look at the woman coming towards the table. Cat then glance over at the man as he was retaking his seat next to his friend. She turned back towards the woman as the woman stepped up. While staring at Briton she said, "I don't mean to be putting my nose where it doesn't belong, but you and your family don't look like that you belong in a shelter."

"We just recently ran into a string of bad luck; that's all," Briton said.

"I'm not here to judge or questioned as to why you're here," the woman said. "In fact, I'm here to help you get back on your feet. Most if not all who enters here are out of work and I know someone who's hiring."

"What kind of work is it?" Briton asked as Cat took a bite of soup.

"Apparently you haven't been out of work that long or otherwise you wouldn't be asking that," the woman said. "In fact, I'm most likely wasting your time, so pretend that I wasn't here."

"Wait," Jennifer said. "My husband and I are both out of work. My husband might be looking for a job like he had before, but me, I don't really care."

The woman nodded before taking out a business card from her pocket. As she was handing Jennifer the card, she said, "The address is on the card. As you can see on the card his name is Quincy and let Quincy know that Amanda sent you."

"Are you Amanda?" Brie questioned.

"It is and you look old enough to work there as well," Amanda said.

"She's not old enough," Jennifer quickly said. "And thanks for the card. I'll check this lead in the morning."

"Quincy only sees people at night," Amanda said. "In fact now or relatively soon; like within the next few hours would be a great time to see him."

Before Jennifer had a chance to respond, Cat said, "Amanda, I could really use a job myself. Would Quincy have more than one job opening?"

Amanda gave a smug grin before pulling out another business card while saying, "Believe it or not, Miss, the more warm bodies Quincy can get his hands on the better he likes it." She then held out the card for Cat to take. "Here. Here's a card for you."

Cat gave Amanda a smile while saying, "Thanks. If this works out the way I expect, I'll be back to thank you." Amanda nodded in a manner as if she had a secret to keep.

When Cat stood up, Brie questioned, "Are you going there now, Cat?"

Cat grinned while saying, "There's no time like the present."

"You only took one bite of your soup," Brie pointed out.

"Well, as you said earlier, I'm not really all that hungry," Cat said.

"Do you mind if I have it?" Brie asked.

"Brie, you don't eat after strangers," Jennifer quickly said.

"Or anyone else as far as that matters," Briton said.

"I'm still hungry though and I already had the limit of how many bowls I can get," Brie said. "Plus I don't know why, but Cat doesn't feel like a stranger to me."

Cat grinned as Amanda said, "Brie, I'll bend the rules this one time. Come with me and I'll get you another bowl of soup."

Brie grinned before saying, "Cool; thanks."

As Brie was standing up with her bowl, Cat said, "It was nice to meet you Brie, Briton, Jennifer… and you too, Amanda."

All four said, "It was nice to meet you."

Cat nodded with a grin before turning towards the exit. When Cat stepped outside, she looked around for her friends. When she couldn't see them, she huffed before saying, "Shit! Where are you guys?"

As Cat continued to look around, she spotted a quick mart gas station at the traffic light one block away and took off walking towards it. Once on the gas station's lot, she spotted an outside payphone. She checked her pockets for coins. She only had two dimes and a few pennies along with a twenty-dollar bill. As she continued walking she passed up the phone and went inside for change. Not expecting to be able to just make change, she got a soda before stepping up in line.

When it was her turn to pay, the cashier muttered in almost tiresome tone, "At least it's not liquor this time."

Cat heard what was said and replied, "The way I'm dressed, I'm going to let that slide… this time. And far now on keep your bias ass remark to yourself."

"Whatever you say," the cashier said as he rang Cat out.

When Cat received her change she slightly hesitated to say, "Have a nice day." The cashier just nodded. Cat turned and exited. Once she got to the payphone she picked up the receiver, put in the coins and dialed Dean's cell phone number. Dean answered on the second ring. "Hey, I think I have a lead on some vampires, so where are you guys?" Cat was quiet as Dean told her the two street names at the intersection. "Okay, wait there. I'll be there in a few minutes. Oh and believe it or not, I think I ran into a potential-slayer tonight who recently just started getting the dreams. I tell you about her when I get there. Okay; bye." Cat hung up the phone and walked briskly to catch up to her friends.

Once Cat caught up with her friends, she told them what she knew; however, not one of them heard of the street name of where Quincy lived. They went to a few businesses within the area while asking for direction to the street, but no one knew. After about thirty minutes of running into dead ends, Jacob got tired and called a policeman who he knew in the area for the directions. The street was one of the shortest residential streets in D.C. and once Jacob got the directions to it, the five set off in the direction of Quincy's house.

Briton, Jennifer and Brie had left the shelter soon after Cat did and found Quincy's house before Cat and her friends.

Briton was the one to knock on the door. When a vampire wearing his human face answered the door Jennifer questioned, "Quincy?"

"Quincy is in the next room," the vampire said.

"Can we see him?" Briton asked.

"What is this regards too?" the vampire asked.

"We're looking for work," Jennifer said. "Amanda from the shelter told us that he could give us a job."

"Ah, in that case, come on in," the vampire said.

Before Briton or Jennifer was able to take a step, Brie asked, "Mom. Dad, can I wait out here?"

"You are to stay here in front," Jennifer said.

"Okay," Brie said.

"Brie, I mean it," Jennifer said in a more serious tone. "Don't go anywhere."

"And I said okay," Brie agitatedly said. "Jesus!"

"Well, your okays here lately has been indicating one thing and doing something else," Jennifer pointed.

"Where in hell would I go?" Brie quickly questioned.

"Brie! Watch you mouth," Jennifer exclaimed.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, mom," Brie said.

"See to it that you don't," Jennifer said. Brie just rolled her eyes while saluting her mother.

Before Jennifer was able to respond to Brie's reaction, Briton said, "Jen, you've been unjustly riding her ass and then you wonder why she balks to what you tell her."

"With all the damages she had caused over the last six months, you have the nerve to accuse me of being unjustly riding her ass?" Jennifer questioned.

"I didn't do those things on purpose," Brie insisted.

"Brie, the lawyer literally took everything cent we had to pay for that pending lawsuit," Jennifer said. "We sold our house and moved in with April. And we got kicked out of there last night."

"Tommy sexually assaulted me, Mom; what in hell was I supposed to have done?" Brie questioned.

"You came out with no marks on you, Brie, and he was crippled for life when you crushed his knee caps with that two-by-four," Jennifer pointed out. "So how am I supposed to believe that Tommy was attempting to rape you?"

"Since I'm a habitual liar there's no reason you should," Brie sarcastically said. "Oh, wait; I'm not a habitual liar though."

"Okay; enough! Both of you!" Briton blurted out. "Brie, wait out here. Jen, let's go talk to Quincy." Briton saw that Jennifer was going to say something else to Brie. "Don't say another word to her and get inside." Jennifer just gave Briton an angry look before walking into the house.

When Briton glanced back at Brie, Brie mouthed out the words, "Thank you, Daddy."

Briton grinned before mouthing out, "You're welcome, sweetie." He then followed Jennifer in the house. The vampire followed them both and then closed the door behind them.

Brie sat down on the front stoop and was sitting there bored for a few minutes. Her attention was then drawn to the side of the house when she barely heard a voice whispering, "Brie. Brie."

Brie turned towards the voice and without getting up, she asked, "Who's there?"

"Come to the back yard, Brie," the unidentifiable voice said.

Brie stood up while asking, "Who are you?"

I'm…" the voice trailed off while keeping Brie from hearing. Brie then barely heard, "Your parents are back here."

Brie cautiously walked towards the side of the house while asking, "Who are you again?" The person never answered. "Hey, are you there?" Brie stopped walking and looked around her feet for something to use as a weapon. She spotted a few stones slightly bigger than a golf balls. She bent down and picked three of them up. She then took a deep breath and continued at a cautious pace. When Brie got near the back of the house she saw a silhouette of a tall man and stopped walking. "Hello! Is anyone back here?" When the man didn't respond or move, Brie threw one of the rocks at the man.

The man quickly jumped out at Brie with his demon face and when Brie saw it, she screamed and took off running back towards the front of the house.

Dean, Sam, Nichole, Cat and Jacob were getting out of Dean's car and heard Brie screaming. They immediately took off running towards the house. Before getting midway they saw a man chasing the teenaged girl.

"That's Brie," Cat quickly told the others.

As Jacob continued to run, he immediately pulled out his gun and shouted out, "Police! Stop where you are." The vampire stopped chasing Brie and turned his attention onto the five new arrivals. The vampire took several steps towards them. "Stop right there and put your hands up."

"Jacob, that's a vampire," Nichole exclaimed as she, Cat, Dean and Sam each pulled out a stake. Dean and Sam each pulled out a bottle of holy water as well.

As the vampire continued to move closer, Jacob fired three times while hitting him in the chest. Brie threw herself to the ground at the sound of the first gunshot.

"Damn it, Jacob!" Dean yelled. "That gun isn't going to do any good, so put it away."

Jacob fired once more and shot the vampire between the eyes. The vampire charged and as he reached the group, Nichole and Cat began their attack against him. Within seconds, Dean, Sam and Jacob spotted four more vampires leaving the house. Brie saw them too and took off running towards Dean's group.

When Brie was a short distance from Dean, Dean quickly called out, "Brie! Quickly take this bottle and splash it on any vampire that comes near you."

Brie ran over to Dean and took the bottle before questioning, "What will this do?"

Dean was moving quickly to the approaching vampires before saying, "Just do it and trust me."

As the four vampires were about to join the skirmish Dean and Sam began their attack. Jacob wasn't sure what to do, but he joined in while striking the vampires where he could.

Sam began his fight by smashing the bottle of holy water against one of the vampires' face. When the vampire grabbed his sizzling face, Sam found the opportunity to plunge the stake into the vampire's heart. Jacob noticed in time to see the vampire exploding into dust.

Jacob was slightly stunned from the sight and while he stood motionless in disbelief too long he was knocked to the ground by one of the other vampires. Nichole was doing the most damage against the vampire that she and Cat were battling and when Cat saw that a vampire was about ready to rip open Jacob's throat she moved quickly to assist Jacob.

Jacob was lying flat on the ground with the vampire on top of him. He had closed his eyes when the vampire had leaned in to bite his neck. As he was preparing for the worse, he felt the vampire's grip crumbling away followed by being showered by a blanket of ash. He opened his eyes to see Cat standing over him with a stake in her hand.

"You're okay, right?" Cat questioned.

Jacob gave her the thumbs up sign while saying, "Peachy."

Cat grinned and nodded before moving away to help fight the remaining three vampires. Jacob quickly got back on his feet and rejoined the fight also.

Brie stood several feet from the skirmish while watching it with wide eyes. Dean followed by Nichole and then Cat, within seconds of each other, had dusted the last three vampires. Brie ran up to the group while blurting out, "Help my parents. They're in the house."

Dean turned towards Cat while saying, "Cat, wait at the car with Brie."

"Since I am one of the two strongest in the group, should I be included in the group that is going into the house," Cat questioned.

"You being one of the two strongest is why I want you out here protecting Brie," Dean pointed out. "Jacob, Sam and I wouldn't be able to do it if a vampire chooses to attack."

Cat took a deep breath before saying, "Alright."

Cat and Brie walked towards the car as the other four walked towards the house. Once Dean's group reached the front door, Nichole used her slayer's strength to open the door.

A lone vampire was waiting; however, the group had expected it and when the vampire jumped out, it was immediately dusted. As the group entered further into the house, two vampires busted through the downstairs window to the outside and took off running.

Cat and Brie saw them as they were running away. Brie glanced at Cat and saw that Cat wanted to chase them. Cat stifled her desire to do so and shouted, "You two better leave town if you know what's good for you."

Cat's and Brie's attentions were then drawn to the house when they heard the sound of a single gunshot.

Brie stared at the house with a disturbed expression on her face for the minutes it took for Dean's group to escort Brie's parents and three others out of the house. The three took off running once they were outside. Jacob just shook his head over their reaction.

Brie ran up to her parents with a smile on her face while yelling, "Mom! Dad!" Brie ran up to her dad first and gave him a hug.

"We're okay, Sweetie," Briton said. Cat was telling Dean, Nichole and Jacob about how two of the vampires had run off. Brie turned loose of her dad and hugged her mom.

During the hug, Jennifer said, "Those people are some kind of deformed freaks. Once we got inside, those freaks threw us in a cage with those three that took off running."

"They were vampires, Mom," Brie said.

"Sweetie, there's no such thing as vampires," Jennifer said.

"That's were you wrong, Jennifer," Cat was the one to say. "Vampires are very real."

"You can't be serious," Briton said.

"That's why I was at the shelter earlier," Cat said. "I was scouting around while looking for vampires."

"You hunt vampires?" Jennifer questioned.

"That's what we do," Sam said. "We track demons and kill them. We're demon hunters."

"Except for Cat and me," Nichole said. "We're vampire slayers."

"You five are demon hunters and vampire slayers?" Briton questioned.

Jacob cleared his throat before saying, "Not me. I'm a detective and ten minutes ago I was too a non-believer."

"Normally we wouldn't tell our secret this easily, but given the additional circumstance we felt that you needed to know this," Dean said.

"What additional circumstances?" Jennifer asked.

Cat was the one to answer, "A characteristic of a potential vampire slayer are dreams of fighting vampires and demons, unusual heighten strength, catlike reflexes and stealth-like movements."

"You just described Brie from the last seven months," Briton said. Cat just lifted her eyebrows and cocked her head with a grin. "Are you telling me that Brie is a potential vampire slayer?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Cat said.

"I'm a vampire slayer?" Brie quickly questioned with shock in her voice.

"You're just a potential slayer," Sam said. "For you and your parents to understand better, we should get Giles involve in this discussion."

"Who's Giles?" Jennifer asked.

"He's a watcher… or was a watcher," Sam said.

"Several years ago, he was Buffy's watcher; Buffy is also a slayer," Cat added. "She's actually Nichole and my boss."

"If she's your boss then why isn't she here?" Jennifer asked.

"She went on a trip and we're not sure when she'll be getting back," Cat said. "But as Sam mentioned; Giles can explained all of this better."

Briton gestured towards the street while saying, "Take us to Giles."

Ten minutes later, in the lobby of the TEC headquarters, Giles took off his glasses just before hissing at mainly Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat, "I can't believe how foolish you four were tonight." Jacob, Brie and her parents stood back and listened. "That vampire nest could've been too large for you four to handle."

Cat gestured towards Brie and her parents while saying, "We did save them and we discovered a potential."

"You got incredibly lucky that not one of you had gotten seriously hurt or killed in the process, Cat," Giles shot back as he noticed Cat favoring her injured arm. "How bad did you get hurt during the incident?"

Cat saw that Giles' attention was on her arm before saying, "Oh… ah, this actually happened at the hotel earlier. It's nothing though; just a flesh wound."

"What kind of flesh wound?" Giles quickly asked.

Cat slightly cringed while saying, "The kind that a bullet leaves as it pierces an arm."

"You were shot?" Giles hissed.

"Yes… but my arm is fine though," Cat assured him.

"Get up to the infirmary now and have the doctor on duty take a look at that arm," Giles ordered.

Cat gave Giles a confused look before asking, "There's an infirmary in the building?"

Giles took a deep breath before saying with a patient tone, "It's on the eighth floor. Go left off the lift. Now go."

"Yes, sir," Cat said before turning towards the elevators and walking away.

Giles saw that Dean was about to say something. While gesturing for him not to, he said, "Don't say a word. I know that you and your brother are seasoned demon hunters, but Nichole and Cat are rank amateurs."

"Hey!" Nichole uttered out.

"Nichole, you have no business entering a vampire nest of any size until you have more experience with killing vampires," Giles said. "And we'll discuss this more later."

"I can hardly wait for that discussion," Nichole sarcastically said.

Giles gave Nichole a warning glare as Briton asked, "Are all slayers and potential slayer always sassy?" Brie smacked her dad's arm with her opened hand.

Briton gave Brie a grin as Giles said, "At times it can be one of their less desirable traits. Anyway, you, your wife and daughter should come with me to the office so we can discuss Brie's future."

"What about her future?" Jennifer asked.

"We should go…" Giles was only able to get out.

"I want to know now," Jennifer insisted to know. "What about her future?"

"Okay," Giles began. "There are thousands of potential slayers in the world between the ages of fifteen and twenty. The watcher's council seeks out as many of these potentials as they can and train them…"

"You want to train my daughter," Jennifer uttered out. "In what way?"

"It would be more comfortable if we continued this discussion in the office," Giles said.

Briton put his hand on Jennifer's shoulder while saying, "Alright. Lead the way."

Giles nodded and led everyone to the elevator.

On October 21, 1112, Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley had only slept for three hours before they and Rose mounted the horses and rode South away from the castle. Rose was riding single on one of the three horses and was the one who led the group.

Around noon time the following day, Rose was still leading the way to the vampires when suddenly everyone saw Rose acting as if something very disturbing had just occurred.

Rose stopped her horse from going any further as Buffy was questioning, "Is there something wrong, Rose?"

Nevin and Langley stopped their horses as Rose was saying, "We need your help, Buffy. The kingdom needs your help."

"Not even twenty-four hours ago your Order was trying to kill me in the name of the kingdom and now you're saying that you need my help," Buffy commented.

"The Cara-Torous dimension was successfully opened," Rose said

"And that's was what you wanted," Buffy said.

"Two dragons had emerged from it within seconds of each other and that wasn't what we wanted," Rose said.

"Two dragons?" Buffy and Amber mocked.

"The soldiers at the castle have managed to restrain them," Rose said. "However, we need someone, a champion to slay them before..."

"Okay, let's be clear about this; I don't slay dragons… nor do I clean up Wolfram & Hart's accidental messes," Buffy said.

Rose appeared to be in a trance for a second before saying, "It's too late anyway. The dragons had broken the restraints and are now flying away from the castle."

"In what direction?" Nevin asked.

Rose hesitated to say, "They're flying North; in the opposite direction from us. The king is rallying the soldiers at the castle to go after them."

"Okay, if the dragons come in this direction, we'll worry about them then," Nevin said. "Until then we'll continue on to the vampires."

"I couldn't say it any better myself," Buffy said.

Nevin grinned as Rose said, "Alright." She then slightly kicked her horse to continue on.


	17. Chapter 17

Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley followed Rose for eight days and nights. They had killed five vampires within those days and on the ninth evening they had finally reached the female vampire that was from Buffy's time at a southwestern coastal city.

The sun had set and when Buffy's group had finally caught up with the vampire the vampire was talking to someone about getting across the English Channel and into France. Buffy had the others to stay back and to cut off any means of escape.

Once Buffy was satisfied that the others were in position, she stepped up to the vampire and the man while saying, "There you are." The vampire and the man turned towards Buffy. "I've been searching the countryside for you."

The man glanced around while seeing if anyone else was in the area before asking, "I'm sorry, but who are you referring to, Ma'am?"

Buffy pointed to the vampire while saying, "Her. You know, I really want to thank you. Tracking you in this direction had saved me a hell a lot of time."

"You have clearly had mistaken me for someone else," the vampire said.

"I know we haven't been formally introduced, but you are exactly who I'm searching for. I'm Buffy. And your name is?"

"I don't know who you think I am, but if you know what is good for you, you will walk away this very second," the vampire warned.

"People say that I'm notorious of not knowing what's good for me," Buffy commented. "I'm not quite sure why that is. I'm mean, I am a smart enough person and I can take care of myself. Anyway, what is your name?"

The vampire stepped closer to Buffy while saying, "I'm Crystal Barnwell and the one who is going to kill you." The man just stood back and watched with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Crystal, you'd be amazed as to how many times I've heard that," Buffy said. "And out of curiosity, what city are you from?"

"You wouldn't have heard of it even if I tell you."

"I thought that too when I used to live in Sunnydale California, but you'd be amaze as to how many people had actually heard of that city."

Crystal stopped in her tracks before questioning, "California? Who are you?"

"I told you. I'm Buffy. So where are you from?"

"Detroit," Crystal said just before changing into her demon face. "And now you die." She then moved towards Buffy.

"Now why did you have to go and do that for?" Buffy questioned as she pulled out her stake. "I wasn't done asking questions." Crystal slightly hesitated before lunging at Buffy when she saw the stake. When she did lunge, Buffy evaded her and kicked her upside the head. Buffy had noticed that the man who Crystal was talking to had run off as she readied herself for another one of Crystal's attacks. "Now before I stake you, I would like to know if you were in Detroit before coming here."

"You think that you can kill me?" Crystal questioned.

"Well, it is what I do. As I said, I'm Buffy, but the part that I had left out is that, I'm a vampire slayer." Crystal again lunged towards Buffy. Buffy dodged the attack and struck Crystal across the face with her fist. After exchanging a few blows, at where Buffy was doing the most damage, Buffy was able to kick Crystal at the back of the leg and forcing her to one knee. Without giving Crystal the time to recover, Buffy made another kick while knocking her on her back. Buffy saw the opportunity to take the kill, but pinned her to the ground instead by driving the stake through her forearm and holding her other arm down with her knee. "I could've killed you right then; however, I need some information from you first. Where were you before coming here?"

"I'm not telling you anything," Crystal said.

Buffy pulled out a bottle of holy water before saying, "I didn't think you would be cooperative." She opened the bottle and allowed six drops to fall on her face. Crystal winced as her skin sizzled. "Now where were you before coming here?"

Crystal attempted to free her pinned arm while hissing, "I'll kill you when I get free."

Buffy struck Crystal across the face with enough strength for Crystal to get the message before saying, "Now I'm going to kill you; there's no doubt about that, but the question is, how much torture do you want me to do to you before I do so. Now I'm going to ask one last time and then I'm going to get cranky. Where were you before coming here?"

"I'm not telling you a blasted thing."

Buffy dumped one-fourth of the bottle of holy water on her face. As Crystal's face smoldered Buffy again asked, "Where were you before coming here?"

Nevin watched Buffy from a short distance as she tortured Crystal. When Amber, Langley and Rose stepped up to Nevin, Nevin glanced at Amber before commenting, "I almost feel sorry for that vampire."

"I was thinking that exact same thing," Amber said as she watched Buffy stake Crystal.

Buffy saw the group watching and as she stepped up to them, Nevin questioned, "Did you find out what you needed to know?"

"Not exactly," Buffy said. "Apparently she was traveling and was somewhat lost when she was sired. Anyway, I would like to think you and Langley… and even you too, Rose, for the help." Rose just slightly smirked. "Amber and I would still be tracking dead ends if it wasn't for you three."

"I enjoyed our brief adventure together, but like all good adventures this one too has an end," Nevin said.

"Will you be going home now? Langley asked.

"Actually Amber and I have a little bit of time before we have to return home and I had always dream of going to France." Buffy saw the curious look that Amber gave her. "Being this close to France, I can't ignore my dreams now."

"What do we do to get into France?" Amber asked.

"The man who ran could help," Langley said.

"Something tells me that he won't help us even if he stopped running long enough to be asked," Nevin said. "But I actually know who can help you with that, Buffy. Come with me."

Buffy nodded before Nevin walked towards the more dense part of town. Buffy and the others followed.

An old friend to Nevin's father lived in the city and Nevin led Buffy and the others to him. After an hour of socializing Buffy and the others were led to a good size fishing. Buffy and Amber each gave Nevin and Langley a hug before boarding the boat.

Nevin, Langley and Rose watched as Buffy and Amber boarded the boat and when the two had walked out of their view they turned and walked back towards the horses.

On board the boat, Buffy and Amber found a spot to sit down away from the six members of the boat's crew. Once comfortable, Amber asked, "I didn't want to ask this in front of Rose or the others, but why are we going to France?"

"What I said earlier about dreaming to go to France was true," Buffy said. "As I told you and Nichole, you should never ignore your dreams, even if it's filled with mystical bugs."

"Mystical bugs?" Amber questioned

"There may not be any flies on the wall around here, but there are other breeds of bugs around us," Buffy said.

Amber gave Buffy a confused look before an understanding expression came across her face and saying, "Oh. Okay." Buffy just grinned.

Buffy and Amber slept most of the boat trip to France. Once on the shores of France, Buffy had gotten direction to Paris from a short heavy man.

During their walk, Buffy and Amber discussed any topic that popped in their heads in order to pass the time. Buffy had even gone through her adventures as a slayer in great detail for several days. She was in the middle of how she defeated the mayor on graduation day when Amber heard some calling out to them.

"…when the mayor changed into the demon…"

Amber interrupted Buffy's story with, "Buff, do you hear that?"

When Buffy stopped to listen, she heard a man yelling, "Buffy. Amber."

The voice was coming from behind them and when Buffy and Amber turned around, they saw Nevin approaching while riding a horse.

When Nevin was close enough, Buffy questioned, "Why are you here?"

As Nevin stopped his horse near Buffy and Amber, he said, "The other day when you had mentioned something about not ignoring your dreams it had gotten me thinking. Normally I don't remember my dreams… this also might not be what you meant, but a week after my sister died I had a dream of my sister. In this dream she told me to escort you… well escort the slayer to Paris."

"You've been to Paris before?" Amber questioned.

"Well, no. But I've been wanting to one day." Nevin said. "And I can speak French."

Buffy grinned while saying, "Welcome and coincidently enough, Paris is exactly where we are heading."

"Yeah, I got that from a short fat man at the docks," Nevin said. Buffy gave him a curious look. "I think I've described you and Amber to thirty people before describing you to him. He remembered you and gave you the direction to Paris." Buffy nodded. "He also mentioned that neither of you two could speak French." Buffy just grinned. "So what is in Paris?"

"It's just a city that I want to visit," Buffy said.

Nevin gave Buffy a skeptical look before saying, "Okay."

Buffy saw the look before gesturing in the direction of Paris while saying, "We should continue on."

"If one of you need to rest your feet, I'm okay with walking," Nevin said.

"I'm good," Buffy said.

"I'm okay with walking too," Amber said.

"Okay, and the offer is good at any point," Nevin said. Buffy nodded before they continued on.

The conversation during their remaining walk to Paris was more trivial. Buffy and Amber were more selective of the topics that were discussed in front of Nevin.

For several days they walked during the day and rested during the darkest part of the night. Once they finally reached Paris Buffy blindly led Amber and Nevin through the streets of the city while looking for the clues to the watcher's council that Elizabeth had told her to look for.

After wandering the streets for four hours, Buffy, Amber and Nevin took time out to eat. Since Nevin was able to speak French he was the one who ordered the food. Once they got the food, they sat in the outside dining area. Buffy didn't more than sit down when she spotted one of the landmarks that she was told to look for.

When Amber saw a smile growing across Buffy's face, she asked, "Why are you smiling?"

"I know where to go from here," Buffy said.

"I was actually enjoying looking at the sites as we wandered aimlessly around Paris," Amber said.

Buffy grinned while saying, "I was enjoying the sites myself." She then took a bite of food.

Within fifteen minutes, Buffy, Amber and Nevin were back on the streets. After walking eight blocks, Buffy led her group into a moderate size building. They barely got one foot in the door, when a man stepped up to them while asking in French, "May I help you?"

"Do you speak English?" Buffy questioned.

When the man gave Buffy a curious look, Nevin said, "He asked if he could help you."

"Tell him that we're here to speak with Elaine Blanc," Buffy said. Nevin gave Buffy a curious look before translating.

"And you three are?" the man asked in French.

"I'm Nevin and they're Buffy and Amber." He said while pointing out who was who.

"Tell him that it is important that I speak with Elaine Blanc," Buffy said. Nevin nodded and translated.

"Come with me," the man said.

"He wants us to follow," Nevin said.

When Buffy nodded, the man turned and walked towards a hallway. The man led Buffy, Nevin and Amber into a parlor. He motioned to the seat before saying, "Please wait here and I will get Elaine Blanc for you."

"He wants us to wait here for Elaine," Nevin said.

"Thanks," Buffy said before taking a seat.

The man walked out and when Amber and Nevin took their seats Amber asked, "Who's Elaine Blanc?"

"I'll answer you after we talk to Elaine," Buffy said.

"My sister spoke that name a few times before getting sick," Nevin said. "In fact, she had asked me to escort her to meet Elaine. I said yes… mainly because she would have gone with or without me; however, the following morning, she was burning up with fever."

"I'll explain to you later, but it is no coincidence that I'm here to speak to Elaine," Buffy said. Buffy saw that Nevin had wanted to ask a question, but after a second of hesitation, he nodded instead.

Buffy, Amber and Nevin waited in the parlor for fifteen minutes before a short woman stepped in. She glanced around at the three as they stood up before saying in French, "I'm Elaine Blanc."

"Please say that you can speak English," Buffy said. Elaine gave her a confuse look. "And apparently not."

Nevin gestured towards Buffy while saying in French, "Her name is Buffy and she wants to discuss something with you."

"What does she want to discuss?" Elaine asked.

"Buffy, Elaine wants to know what you want to discuss," Nevin said

Buffy hesitated to say while looking at Nevin in a mournful stare, "And I just realize as to how difficult this will be with you translating."

Nevin gave Buffy a confused look before asking, "What do you mean?"

Buffy took a deep breath before saying, "The day we slew William and went to sleep for the three hours afterwards, I was pulled into your dream." Nevin gave Buffy a skeptical look. "It's a slayer thing. It happens to me quite a bit actually… well not quite, quite a bit, but it has happened to me several times since becoming a slayer. Anyway you were dreaming of when Elizabeth was telling you about how you were going to meet me." Nevin expression had changed to a mournful one. "Nevin, you need to know that Elizabeth was on her way at becoming a powerful prophet before she got sick. Her spirit had come to me within the dream and gave me a warning. She told me that a future slayer. A slayer about nine hundred years from now will want to simultaneously activate all the potential-slayers in the entire world as active slayers in order to fight a powerful evil known at the First Evil. This slayer will have the ability to do it too; however, this will cause a really really horrible undesirable affect generations later. I was told by Elizabeth to come here and to pass that warning to Elaine in order to keep that future slayer from doing that. Please translate my warning to Elaine."

Nevin ran a math problem in his head before saying, "So you're from the year 2012." Buffy gave him a surprised look. "I was thinking that you and Amber were from the year 1912."

"You guessed that I'm from the future?" Buffy questioned.

"With all the clues that came to me, it wasn't all that difficult," Nevin said.

Buffy slightly grinned before saying, "I'm from the year 2013 actually. Anyway, please translate the warning to Elaine. And please leave out that I'm the one who was going to activate the potential-slayers' ability one decade shy of nine hundred years from now… well, nine years shy of nine hundred years from now anyway."

Nevin grinned before translating the warning for Elaine to hear. Nevin and Elaine exchanged a few lines of dialogue before Elaine said something to Buffy and then turned to leave.

Before Elaine had a chance to leave, Buffy asked, "Nevin, what did she say?"

"She is skeptical of what you say and she wants to discuss it with the witch's council. She said that it should only take an hour at the most. She wants us to wait here."

"Could we come back in an hour after we go sightseeing some more?" Amber asked.

"We better stay," Buffy said before retaking her seat.

Nevin and Amber also retook their seat before Nevin asked, "So have either of you ever been to Paris during your own time? Paris does exist in your time, doesn't?"

"It exists," Amber was the first to say. "Of course Paris was captured by the Nazis in…" Amber trailed off when she saw Buffy giving her a harsh look.

"We're not allowed to give out future knowledge," Buffy said.

"This lands get conquered sometime in the future by a nation called the Nazis?" Nevin questioned.

Buffy sighed before saying, "Their nation isn't called the Nazis. Nazis is more the name of the country's soldiers and yes. For a short time, France falls under the occupation of the Nazis for only a few years. Good news though. England are allies of France and with the help of other nations, England pushes the Nazis out of France and back into their own country."

"When does this war happen?" Nevin asked.

"Nevin, you actually know more than what you are allowed to know about the future," Buffy said. "So I can't tell you anymore about it. And to answer your original question on if I ever visited Paris in my time, the answer is yes. But I wasn't in Paris long enough to learn the language." Nevin grinned.

"Was it before or after beating back the First Evil?" Amber asked.

"Right after," Buffy said.

"Is First Evil some kind of powerful demon?" Nevin asked.

Buffy uncontrollably chuckled before getting control of herself and saying, "No. First Evil came before demons or man and it can't be destroyed. Or if it can, I don't know how."

"But you had beaten it?" Nevin questioned.

"In a way; yes. The First Evil was going to release a large army of super vampires on Earth known as Ubervamp. My group and I beat the First Evil back by destroying its army."

"What do you mean by a super vampire?" Nevin asked.

"The vampires that we killed for the past few days were human and demon hybrids; half human and half demon. An Ubervamp is pure demon and they are much stronger and harder to kill than the vampires that you know."

"And that's why you were going to activate all the potential-slayers at once," Nevin commented. "You wanted to build an army against those Ubervamps." Buffy grinned. "Did you get that warning not to activate the potential-slayers?"

"I was told by the witch's coven at the watcher's council that activating potentials would cause an undesirable affect within the slayer's line. They even went as far as to say that they will cast a counter-spell that will at least hinder if not stop any of our spell to activate them."

"So how did you do it if you couldn't build that army?" Nevin questioned.

"I did mention Willow to you, right?" Nevin just nodded. "Willow came up with another plan. Instead of casting a spell that would activate all the slayers, she charmed pieces of jewelry with magic. While wearing the charmed jewelry my selected group of potential-slayers became slayers. In fact, Amber wears a cross around her neck and as long as she wears that cross, she has the ability of a slayer. If she removes that cross, her slayer ability will eventually falter."

"So I won't lose my slayer ability right away?" Amber questioned.

"Not right away, but it will go eventually and rapidly," Buffy assured her. "The rate is different for each potential-slayer, but the average is one hour. If you are more than three feet away from your cross for an hour, you will revert back to your ordinary self. Putting it back on again will re-activate your ability."

"You failed to mention that to us," Amber said. "I thought I had to wear the cross all the time."

"I actually kept that piece of information from you on purpose," Buffy said.

"Why?" Amber asked.

"Eight years ago… our time, a demon that a single slayer could've handled alone had sought out and killed three slayers who weren't wearing their charmed jewelry," Buffy explained. "All three were killed on the same day and since that day, I prefer that all slayers whose ability were activate by a charmed jewelry to wear their jewelry at all times."

"Now that I know what can happen, that won't be a problem," Amber said.

"Buffy, with your army and the First Evil's army, there must have been heavy casualty all the way around," Nevin commented.

"Actually with the weirdness that the First Evil was creating, the local residents got frightened and left for a less bizarre town; which was more than good in the long run."

"Why was it good?" Nevin asked.

"The First Evil's army was coming from below the ground and when we destroyed them… well the entire city was destroyed as it fell into a huge crater." Buffy saw that Nevin slightly confused with that last word that she had used and said, "A deep hole in the ground. That was when my group and I went to England. We returned to the area two years later, when I got word that a new city was being built."

Their conversation became more casual and it stayed that way for the hour and ten minutes that it took for Elaine to return.

All three were in the motion to stand up when Elaine asked Nevin in French, "Buffy is a slayer?"

Buffy gave Elaine a curious look as Nevin answered with, "Yes."

"I've studied the history of the past twenty slayers," Elaine said. "Buffy was never one of them. And I have never heard a slayer who had lived passed her nineteenth birthday. So where does she come from?"

"What's going on, Nevin?" Buffy asked.

Nevin gestured for Buffy to wait while answering Elaine's questioned first, "She's from a different dimension. She came here to kill vampires that had come here from her dimension. While being here she was given a dream… a prophecy dream about how a future slayer was going to activate all the potential-slayers as slayers. And as I translated to you earlier, that will cause an undesirable affect."

"If she is from another dimension then she would be returning home at some point," Elaine pointed out.

"She will be going home once she's done here," Nevin said.

"I would like to witness her leaving," Elaine said. "Only then will I believe the warning that she brought with her."

"Buffy, Elaine is skeptical of your warning," Nevin began. "She also questioned me about you being a slayer. I've told her about how you are a slayer from another dimension. So now before she will believe your warning, she wants to witness you returning to your dimension."

Buffy gave a big smile before saying, "I can do that." Buffy pulled out the device from an inner pocket from her clothes. "I was going to return home after this anyway."

"I thought you were," Nevin said

As Buffy slightly held up the device in her right hand, she placed her left hand on Amber's shoulder while asking, "Are you ready to go home, Amber?"

"I'm ready," Amber said.

"It's been a pleasure knowing you, Nevin," Buffy said.

Nevin grinned while saying, "Knowing you and Amber as been a pleasure as well."

Nevin and Elaine watched closely as Buffy pressed the button on the device. Nothing happened at first. When Buffy turned the device in order to look at the button, she and Amber disappeared from sight. To Nevin and Elaine perspective, Buffy and Amber appeared to have been ripped away into a shimmering vortex. Once Buffy and Amber were gone, Elaine began chanting a prayer.

"That's not necessary," Nevin said. "All they did was gone home. Now it's time for you to keep your end of the bargain. You must make sure that the slayer nine hundred years from now gets that warning."

"I'll do what I can to get that warning to her," Elaine said. "Now a guess it's time for you to return home."

"Home?" Nevin questioned. He then sighed. "I'm afraid I have no home anymore."

"What do you mean?" Elaine asked.

"How can I stay loyal to the kingdom when I know that the king relies on Wolfram and Hart from day to day guidance and daily routine? I mean Buffy never told me what the connection between the demons and Wolfram & Hart is, but I'm smart enough to know that there's a connection… a connection that I can no longer be part of. So I'm afraid I no longer have a home."

Elaine smiled before saying, "You can make watcher's council your home."

"You would take me in?" Nevin questioned.

"You know about us and you know what we do," Elaine began. "Also you seem to be against the demons and the people who make deals with them."

"Deals?" Nevin said in an angry tone. "Is that what Wolfram & Hart do? They make deals with them?"

"I wouldn't know where to begin to tell you about the deals that Wolfram & Hart are involve with," Elaine began. "However, I can tell you that the absolute rulers of the Order are made up of a coalition of high level demons."

"The people in the Order work for demons?" Nevin questioned in disbelief. "I can't believe that the king would enter into such a bargain."

"Most of the people in the order don't know that they work for high level demons." Nevin just gave Elaine a concerned look. "Most likely the king doesn't either. Now that you do, will you join us in the fight against them and the demons?"

"I'll join your fight." Elaine gave him a smile. "Just tell me what I need to do from here."

"Just follow me." Nevin nodded before following Elaine out of the parlor.

Friday, April 12, 2013, at the TEC headquarters, a power surge doubling the normal intensity of when a group of time travelers would return home had occurred. Simultaneously, the power-surge-protector for the computers had caused the computers to lose power; one-third of the lights in the embarking room exploded and the four-man car that Buffy and Amber were in returned to the present time. The circuit breaker blew and the building went black as the car came to a rest in its normal spot.

Just before the backup generator kicked on, Capt. Matuzek blurted out "What in hell just happened?"

"Not sure," someone at the controls called out as the lights that didn't exploded came back on.

"Well, get sure," Capt. Matuzek spouted back.

Jack was approaching the car while questioning in concerning tone, "What the hell happened for Buffy's group to return within only five minutes of leaving." He then saw that the occupants of the car were unconscious and slumped over. "Shit! We need medics in here ASAP. Buffy, Amber, Teresa and Brenda are unconscious!"

"Get these computers back on line!" Capt. Matuzek ordered. "I want to know what just happened!"

Jack opened the canopy to the car and checked each of the member's pulse. Buffy and Amber were alive, but he couldn't find a pulse on Teresa or Brenda. Jack turned towards the command crew while shouting, "I need some help here. I have two people without a pulse."

Within minutes Jack and three others with CPR training had pulled Teresa and Brenda from the car and began CPR.

As the computers were coming back on line, a global time disruption was flashing at the highest possible alert. The second that Dr. Easter saw it he couldn't help, but to blurt out, "Holy shit!"

"What is it?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"We have a major time disruption occurring," Dr. Easter said.

"Where?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Actually, Captain, the question should be where isn't," Dr. Easter pointed out. "It's worldwide and it occurred simultaneously… about ten years ago."

"What happened ten years ago that would've affected the world simultaneously?" Capt. Matuzek asked to no particular person as four in-house medics stormed through the door with their equipment. Capt. Matuzek gestured towards Buffy's group. "Over there."

Wilson, a crewman at another control console, blurted out as he looked at his screen, "My god! I can't believe this! This is not supposed to happen!"

"Wilson, when you get done ranting, can you let me in on what had happened that wasn't supposed to have happened?" Capt. Matuzek commented as Jack and his group were moving away for the paramedics to treat Buffy's group. Jack picked up the device that Buffy used to return home.

"Captain, according to this data, two separate groups of travelers had come through at the very same nanosecond," Wilson said as Jack looked at the chronometer on the device.

Before Capt. Matuzek could respond, Jack said, "Not two separate groups of travelers. The same group, but from two separate timelines and since there is only one group here, I'll open the betting window now on if the two groups had merged into one."

"Well, that too is impossible," Wilson pointed out.

"And so is being in the past for four to five weeks and returning only five minutes later of when they left," Jack said. "Buffy's group somehow changed something in the past and when they returned, they returned too soon. There's supposed to be twenty-four hours in the past to six minutes in the present ratio and since that ratio had somehow failed, they returned here at the original timeline. Both groups did and now the two groups had merged into one. That's my theory of what had happened anyway."

"Buffy's group was sent to the year 1112; not 2003," Wilson pointed out. "So how could Buffy affect 2003 when that's not the time she went too?"

Capt. Matuzek glanced over at the paramedics as they placed Buffy and Amber on separate stretchers. Blankets were covering Teresa's and Brenda's bodies to indicate that they had died. Before the paramedics were able to lift the stretchers, Capt. Matuzek asked, "Bradley, what are their conditions?"

Bradley faced Capt. Matuzek before answering, "Two are dead and two are in critical condition."

"Do you know how soon I'll be able to talk with them?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"If we don't get them to a hospital soon, you won't be talking to them at all," Bradley said.

"Go," Capt. Matuzek told Bradley. "Jack, find Willow and tell her that I want to see her in my office ASAP."

"Yes, Sir," Jack said before walking away.

"Okay, when the main power comes back on, I want data from this incident from all stations ASAP," Capt. Matuzek ordered.

"Yes, sir," the entire crew said.

Capt. Matuzek walked out without saying another word.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N My previous chapter had confused at least the two who posted comments. The confusion was unintentional, so I hope this later chapter will clear up the confusion**

Ten minutes had passed when Buffy and Amber were carried out of the embarking room. In Capt. Matuzek's office Capt. Matuzek sat at his desk as Willow and Kennedy were sitting across from him while listening to an explanation of the current situation. Once he was done explaining he asked, "Do you know what Buffy could have done to cause a worldwide time disruption that would have started in 2003?"

"Well, 2003 is the year we changed the world," Willow said.

"What do you mean that you and her changed the world?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Well, before ten years ago, there would be only one vampire slayer born to every generation," Willow said. "A slayer's death was the only way to activate another slayer and the slayer's lifespan was at an average of two to three years. A slayer living for four years was rare."

"Willow changed all that though with her magic," Kennedy said proudly with a smile. "For now on whoever is born a potential-slayer will become a slayer around her fifteenth birthday, give or take a month or two."

"And all Buffy needed to do was change something small enough that wouldn't be detected by our computers, but powerful enough to stop you from casting your spell," Capt. Matuzek commented. Willow gave Capt. Matuzek a concerned look. "That alone would be enough to create an instantaneous worldwide time disruption."

"Buffy wouldn't do anything to change the events that would stop me from turning the potentials into slayers," Willow said while being sure of herself.

"I think she would if the threat of the First Evil wasn't there," Kennedy pointed out. "I mean we only did it to save Earth from being overrun by Ubervamps."

"Okay, there's that," Willow admittedly said. "But I'm sure Buffy wouldn't have done it on purpose. So all we have to do is send someone else back into the past and warn Buffy."

"According to my data, we have about eight hours to correct this before all hell breaks loose, so until we can talk to Buffy or I can get a better idea of what had happened no one is going back into the past," Capt. Matuzek said.

"Perhaps Will and I should go to the hospital and wait for Buffy to wake up," Kennedy said.

"That I will allow," Capt. Matuzek said.

Willow stood up before saying, "I'll call you as soon as Buffy or Amber is awake." When Capt. Matuzek nodded, Willow and Kennedy left the room.

Willow, Kennedy and twelve other slayers sat in the waiting room for seven hours while waiting for Buffy or Amber to regain consciousness. Five more slayers were going through the food-line in the hospital's cafeteria.

As the first of the five slayers stepped up to the cashier to pay for her food, a translucent ghost type figure of a man while carrying his translucent food tray walked through her. When the second slayer in line saw the startling sight she allowed her food tray to slip from her hands and drop to the floor. Everyone's attention was then drawn to the bloodcurdling screams that seems to have originated from several people around the room.

As the five slayers looked around to see what the commotion was about, they saw a whole room of translucent doppelgangers of the people who were already in the room, except for the slayers themselves. The translucent doppelganger seemed to have been unaware of their frightened counterpart and went on as if nothing was unusual.

The fourth slayer in line blurted out, "Okay, what in the hell is going on?"

Throughout the hospital the patients, staff members and guests were somewhat frightened to even move and when one of the translucent doppelganger got to close to one of them, that person would let out scream.

In the waiting area, Willow and the other slayers were watching the translucent doppelgangers with half interest and half concern. Kennedy was making failed attempts to get one of the translucent doppelgangers' attention.

While Willow was watching the spine-chilling sight, her phone rang. Without really taking her eyes off of the ghostly crowd, she put her phone to her ear and answered with a slight eeriness in her voice, "Hello."

"Willow, this is Capt. Matuzek. I need you and Kennedy to return at once."

"Capt. Matuzek, I see ghosts; they're everywhere," Willow said in an eerie tone.

"I know what you are seeing. We see them too here at our facility, but they're not ghosts. I'll explain what they are when you get here."

"Okay," Willow said in almost a trance like state before hanging up without saying, 'goodbye.'

In Los Angeles, things were extremely slow at Angel's investigation. Faith was asleep in the chair behind the counter. A novel that she was reading before she dozed off was lying on the floor at her feet.

Once Faith began REM sleep, she found herself in the middle of a dried up field with patches of grass in every direction as far as the eye can see. In the middle of the grassy parts she saw girls who were under the age of fourteen buried up to their shoulders. The sight of the girls' head above ground went in every direction as far as the eye can see also. The distance between each girl was no less than fifty feet apart for the closest two. It was daytime with no clouds in the sky, but a dark haze was blocking the sun, which made it a lot darker than what it should've been.

Faith's attention was then drawn behind her to the sound of digging. When she turned to look, she saw Buffy digging a hole. Behind Buffy was the entire slayer population while lined up in a single file. The line of slayers also went as far as the eyes could see.

Faith walked up to Buffy and asked, "What are you doing, B?"

Buffy said without loosing her rhythm while digging, "I'm unharvesting the slayers."

"Unharvesting isn't even a word, B," Faith pointed out as Buffy was finishing up with the current hole. "And even if it was, how can you unharvest something?"

"Like this," Buffy said just before she motioned for the first slayer in line to drop into the hole. Once the slayer was inside Buffy pushed the dirt to where only the head of the slayer was seen. Instantly grass sprouted around the head.

When Faith saw the grass, she commented, "Okay, now that was unusual." Buffy walked five feet and started to dig another hole. Faith followed behind her. "Okay, even if you can unharvest the slayers, why do it?"

"The entire crop of slayers wasn't meant to be harvest at once," Buffy explained. "By doing so, the crop is withering away. The unripe slayers are all that is left and if they get harvested too once they're ripe, then there will be no more slayer growing in the field."

"So we're plant more slayers," Faith pointed out.

"The seeds to grow more slayers are no good once the slayer is harvested." Buffy then pointed towards the sun while continuing to say, "And even if we could find a way to plant more there's no time. The First Evil has begun blotting out the sun. If we allow this crop to wither away then the First Evil will turn the skies dark forever."

"The First Evil is dead, B. We killed it." Faith said as Buffy went back to digging the hole

"You can't kill what can't be killed and it's waiting for this crop to wither away so he can plant his own crop." Buffy paused at digging the hole. "I wonder if he had planned to plant Ubervamps again." Buffy shrugged and went back to digging. "Oh well. I'm not giving him a chance to plant anything. This is my crop field and I won't let him take it from me."

"But, B, we harvested the crop to keep the crop from being destroyed by the First Evil's bandits," Faith pointed out.

"I realize now that the bandits couldn't destroy enough of the crop to wipe it out completely," Buffy said. "We panicked and that was what the First Evil wanted all a long. It wanted us to panic so we would harvest the crop. It knew that we didn't know that the slayer seeds were useless once all the slayers were harvested. Now that I do know, I'm unharvesting."

"B, unharvesting will take you forever."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Look behind you."

When Faith looked, she saw rows and rows of girls and teenage women buried up to their necks. A carpet of grass flourished between them. Faith turned back towards Buffy with a stunned expression only to see more of the same behind Buffy. As Faith was slightly squinting from the brighter sun, she gestured towards the field of heads while questioning, "How? How did you…"

"The unharvesting takes less time than you think," Buffy said. She then pointed to a slayer that was digging herself out. "Oh look. There's Jamie Kohl. She's uprooting herself."

Faith looked while asking, "Who's Jamie Kohl?"

"You remember," Buffy said. "You allowed yourself to die for two minutes so she could be harvested."

"Yes; strangely enough I do recall letting that happen," Faith said. "She was killed a year later when she was lured into a large nest of vampires at a warehouse by a lone vampire that she was chasing."

"Faith, wake up," Buffy said.

Faith woke up to the sound of Angel saying, "Faith, wake up. All hell is breaking loose outside and you're in here sleeping."

"What do you mean?" Faith asked while stretching.

Angel hesitated for the right words before saying, "I can't explain it. Open the front door and see for yourself.'

Faith gave Angel a curious look before going to the front door of the agency and opened it. When Faith opened the door, she saw a translucent door in the shut position. "Now this is weird." Faith cautiously put her hand out to attempt to touch the door.

"Hey, Faith," Angel called out. When Faith turned to look, Angel gestured to her translucent doppelganger that had just stepped into the room while reading a book on demons.

Faith stepped up to her doppelganger and made a failed attempt to get her attention. When she noticed at what type of book she had, she said, "I'm reading… I'm mean, she's reading about the Wolfshire demons."

"Those demons were wiped out seven years ago by the Slayer's association," Angel said.

"No; they weren't," Faith said after she realized what was happening. "Not in this Faith's reality."

"What are you talking about?" Angel questioned.

"Buffy is somehow changing the past," Faith explained. "She's changing it to where the potential-slayers had never become slayers."

"Again, Faith, what are you talking about?" Angel asked.

Faith took the time to explain her dream to Angel and when she was done, she attempted to call Buffy. When she couldn't get a hold of Buffy she called Willow.

Willow and Kennedy were entering the elevator at the TEC headquarter when Willow received Faith's call.

Willow saw who was calling and answered the phone with, "Faith, I can't talk now. Things are creepy around here."

"Things are creepy here too," Faith said. "I just saw a ghost of myself and I know that Buffy had caused it."

"How did Buffy caused it?" Willow asked. Kennedy watched Willow's facial expression as Faith told her the dream and what she thought the meaning to it was.

After Willow put her phone away, she repeated what Faith had told her for Kennedy to hear. Willow and Kennedy stepped off the elevator on the sixth floor and before continuing down the hall, Willow finished the story. When they finally began walking again, they saw a ghost looking Giles walking through the hallway. Kennedy slightly chuckled before saying, "I see Giles is here in that alternate reality."

Capt. Matuzek, Jack, Dr. Easter, Claire Hemmings and four scientists were sitting at the table inside the conference room. When Capt. Matuzek saw Willow and Kennedy stepping in, Willow said, "I'm sorry we took an hour to return. The traffic outside had come to a halt because of the ghostly sight and we had to walk."

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "That's quite alright." He then motioned towards the empty seats. "Sit down and I'll explain what you are seeing."

"Oh, Kennedy and I know what's going on," Willow said. "Faith called us and told us what was happening."

"Who's Faith," Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"She's a slayer in Los Angels," Willow said as Kennedy took a seat.

"How would she know what was going on?" Jack asked.

"Buffy and Faith had always had a type of spiritual connection to each other." When everyone gave Willow a confused look she continued to say, "Buffy and Faith communicate with each other in their dreams."

"So you are telling me that Buffy, who is in a slight coma at the moment at a Washington D.C. hospital, is sending dreams to someone in Los Angeles?" Capt. Matuzek questioned in a skeptical tone.

"I know how it sounds, Captain, but it's true," Willow said as she finally took a seat.

"I'm not saying that I believe all of this, but on the chance that it's true, did Faith say if Buffy was the caused of this time paradox?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"You mean alternate reality, don't you?" Kennedy asked.

"No," Capt. Matuzek said. "Alternate realities are separate realities on their own plane of existence. What we're dealing with is a time paradox. It is two separate realities, but they are both competing for the same plane of existence. And at the moment, our reality is losing. So, Willow, do you know what caused this?"

"Yeah, Buffy did do it and after talking to Faith, I now feel that she done it on purpose," Willow said.

"So on the chance that Faith knows what she is talking about, you are telling me that Buffy purposely caused a time infraction?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"If Faith interpreted her dream correctly, Buffy did it to save Earth from being taken over by demons fifty years from now," Willow said.

"How is Earth going to be taken over by demons when there are hundreds possibly even thousands of slayers in the world?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"That's just it," Willow began. "According to Faith's dream, all the girls who will be slayers are born now. There won't be any more girls born and becoming slayers at adolescent. And once the slayers are gone… well to quote a particular vampire, every human on Earth will be a walking happy meal and there won't be a single slayer to stop it… of course that's not an exact quote though."

"Okay, I'm a little confused as to why there won't be anymore slayers," Jack said.

"Again according to Faith's dream, a potential-slayer holds the seeds to the other potential-slayers," Willow said. "Once a potential-slayer becomes a slayer, the seeds to plant more potential-slayers become sterile." Willow saw everyone looking at her as if she had lost her mind. "I did mention that this is what Faith dreamt, didn't I?"

Capt. Matuzek took a deep breath before saying, "How certain are you that the slayers will end and the demons will take over the Earth in fifty years if we correct this timeline."

"Well fifty years from now is only a guess," Kennedy said. "It could be a hundred years from now as far as we know."

"Okay, well regardless of it being fifty years or a hundred years or even a thousand years from now, how certain are you and Willow that it will happened?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Buffy wouldn't have done it if she wasn't certain and I trust her completely," Willow said.

"So do I," Kennedy said.

"Captain, I've been hearing stories from the slayers since Buffy's group has been at this facility and if the demons take over the Earth, life on Earth will become a horror show come true," Jack added on the slayers' behalf. "The movie, 'Night of the Living Dead' would fail in comparison of real life once those years begin."

"So we should allow this timeline to disappear in the few hours that we have left?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"I know that this is a severe time infraction, but in my opinion, Captain, yes," Jack said.

The leading scientist cleared his throat before saying, "This timeline won't just disappear like a normal time infraction otherwise I think that this timeline would have done it already. Buffy's and Amber's presence are somehow anchoring this reality. That's why we are seeing the other reality as a ghost reality. Eventually, that other reality will become less translucent as this reality becomes translucent."

"Then we need to cut anchor," Jack said.

"What do you mean by, cut anchor?" Willow questioned.

"This time infraction was set in motion ten years ago," Jack said. "We need to send Buffy and Amber back in time before then and that should sever any connections that Buffy and Amber have with this reality."

"You want to send Buffy and Amber into the past while being in comas," Kennedy asked.

"I believe that they are in comas because of the two realities being bound together, so they won't be waking up at all while in this reality," the scientist said.

"So you're saying that Buffy and Amber are in comas because of the two realities being bound together, but they are also the cause of the two realities being bound together?" Kennedy questioned.

"That's correct and so is Jack," the scientist said. "Buffy and Amber has to be sent into the past before the time infraction was set in motion. The only other way to cut the anchor is for them to die."

"No one is killing Buffy and Amber," Willow quickly exclaimed.

"They're not dying," Capt. Matuzek said. "We'll send them back before 2003. Once they're out of the affect time period I believe that they'll come out of their comas; however, someone has to go into the past with them."

"I'll go," Willow and Kennedy both said in unison. "We'll go."

"Here's the catch if either of you two go," Capt. Matuzek said. "You can't stay in the past and once you, Kennedy, Buffy and Amber returned to 2013, there will already be another Willow and Kennedy in that alternate timeline…"

"Unless Willow or I was killed before then in someway," Kennedy interrupted with.

"True, if either of you are dead in the other timeline then nothing will happened to you, but let's assume that you're both alive in that other timeline," Capt. Matuzek said. "You and your counterpart can't exist or be alive in the same timeline at the same time and the ones who don't belong will explode into a billion atoms and fade away in under two minutes."

"So I would have at least one full minute before exploding," Willow questioned.

"That's correct," Capt. Matuzek said. "I've seen it happened a few times before while working here, and in that minute I can tell that his or her short existent of being a double in the alternate timeline was a painful one."

"I have magically suppressed my pain before, so I can deal with it before exploding into a billion atoms," Willow said with a slight smug grin.

Capt. Matuzek gave Willow a suspicious look as Kennedy said, "A slayer can endure a lot of pain too, so I too can handle it."

Capt. Matuzek shook off his curious thoughts that he was having and looked away from Willow before saying, "Okay. We will transfer Buffy and Amber back to this facility. Getting Buffy and Amber back here might take a couple of hours so you four will be leaving for the year 2002 in two hours or more. So you two should go now and prepare yourselves to leave."

"Yes, Captain," Willow and Kennedy said just before standing up.

Before Willow and Kennedy had a chance to walk away, Capt. Matuzek said, "Willow; Kennedy, chances are Buffy and Amber won't be coming out of their comas right away, so when we send you back to the year 2002, we will be sending you to one of the finest hospital that can treat Buffy's and Amber's conditions. You might even be in the past for a few days so just try to stay out of times way while you're in the past."

"Yes, Captain," Willow and Kennedy said.

"Oh and so you don't have to worry about daily expenses we'll provide you with enough cash to last you a week," Capt. Matuzek said. "The money we'll provide actually originated before 2002 during other missions."

Willow grinned before saying, "Thanks."

Before Willow and Kennedy turned to leave, Kennedy asked, "Captain, why can we see the people from the other reality, but they can't see us?"

"If I had to speculate I would say that we are like an old movie on a VHS video tape that is being written over by another show. We're the old data and the ghostly images that we're seeing are the new data. And I just realized that, that explanation doesn't really answer your question, does it?"

"No, but that's okay," Kennedy said with a slight grin. "I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is confused by all this." Capt. Matuzek just smiled as Kennedy and Willow turned to walk out.

When the door closed behind them, Capt. Matuzek said, "Okay, I don't think that there's anymore to say on this situation. Everyone dismissed." Everyone got up at the same time and left the room one by one.

As Willow and Kennedy were walking away from the conference room, Kennedy said, "You're planning on doing something. What is it?"

Willow grinned before saying, "You know me too well."

"I do and now tell me what you're planning."

"I like the memories that we created during the past ten years and I don't want our memories to disappear with our timeline. So I'm planning to magically transfer our memories into our doubles of the other timeline."

"Will, I don't want our memories of the last ten years to disappear either, but transferring our memories to our doubles sounds difficult."

"You don't think I can do it?"

"No, I didn't say that," Kennedy quickly said. "I definitely think that you can do it. I just can't help thinking that it might do more harm than good."

"I learn a lot of my powerful spells after we started the slayer's academy and I hate to lose them."

"Will, I understand why you want to transfer your spells to… well to yourself, but I'm not certain if that will be wise."

"I know the exact spell I want to do and it won't be dangerous for anyone. I promise."

Willow caught Kennedy's skeptical tone as she said, "Okay. Just please be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

"Do you honestly want me to answer that?"

"I'm careful… most of the time anyway." Willow then saw the ghost looking Giles again. "Hey look. Just for kicks, we should follow him."

Kennedy grinned while saying, "I'm done warning you, Will; so you don't have to change the subject." Willow just grinned.

As the minutes passed, Willow cast a spell in order to absorb the information from her spell book to be a part of her. Once she absorbed the information, she'll have six months to recopy it into another book before the knowledge will begin to fade.

Capt. Matuzek had gone to his office and recorded a thirty-minute visual message of him onto a disc for his counterpart to hear.

Buffy's and Amber's comatose bodies took two hours to be brought back and as he was walking down the hall towards the embarking room the staff's translucent doppelgangers were becoming less translucent. The translucent doppelgangers were still unaware of their counterpart.

Buffy and Amber were immediately prepped for launch and were placed in the back two seats. Once they were fastened in, Willow and Kennedy climbed into the front two seats. Before they had a chance to close the canopy, Capt. Matuzek stepped up and handed Willow the computer disc with his message while saying, "I need this disc to get to my counterpart."

"What's on the disc?" Willow asked.

"A warning for my counterpart about a possible glitch in the device that brings time travelers home too soon."

"What?" Willow quickly questioned followed by Kennedy.

"Don't worry; this glitch has only happened this one time," Capt. Matuzek assured Willow and Kennedy.

"How can you be sure that it won't happen again and to us?" Kennedy questioned.

"Buffy and her group had been sent into the past further than any traveler before them. I think the distance into the past had something to do with it. And since you are only being sent eleven years into the past, the device that brings you back to the present will work just find."

"Well, I hope you're right," Willow skeptically said.

Kennedy glanced over at Capt. Matuzek's translucent doppelganger while saying, "If you're giving your counterpart a message, wouldn't he want to correct the timeline?"

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "I'm letting him know that I supported this time infraction so that Earth won't be taken over by demons in fifty or more years from now. Since in a way he's me, I'm positive that he'll agree with me."

Willow glanced over at Capt. Matuzek's translucent doppelganger before saying, "I'll make sure he gets your message. Out of curiosity, how long has your double been in the debarking room?"

"He's been in and out a few times actually, but for a while now. When a jumper stays out for more then four hours the idea of something going wrong with the mission pops in my head."

"So he's worried about Buffy and her crew?" Willow said. Capt. Matuzek just nodded. "Okay, well, I'm all set."

"I'm also set," Kennedy said.

Capt. Matuzek nodded before closing the canopy. Once the canopy was close, he went to his station, but instead of sitting, he stood beside his translucent doppelganger. Once all system showed a go, Capt. Matuzek ordered the launched.

The launched went without incident and within seconds of the launched everyone from that timeline exploded into billions of atoms. The translucent timeline instantly became solid.

June, 10, 2002, 6:25 A. M., Buffy, Willow, Kennedy and Amber emerged from a vortex in the halls of a Washington, D.C. hospital. As expected, Buffy and Amber dropped to the floor unconscious. Kennedy immediately yelled out, "I need a doctor here." Kennedy then noticed Willow sensing something. "Willow, I don't know what you're sensing, but help me."

Willow saw four nurses rushing over. She pointed to them while saying, "Help is coming."

As the four nurses approached, one of them asked, "What happened?"

"They fainted," Kennedy said as she once again saw Willow sensing something. "We don't know why?"

"Okay, you two need to stand back," the nurse said. "We'll handle it from here."

Kennedy slightly nudged Willow to move in a certain direction. When they were out of the way, Kennedy asked, "Will, what's up with you?"

"What's today's date?" Willow asked. Kennedy just shrugged. She then turned her attention to the four nurses. "Hey, what's today's date?"

"It's June, 10th," one of them said. She then turned her attention to another nurse. "Go get two gurneys and four orderlies."

"Okay," the second nurse before walking away.

"Will, what's up with you?" Kennedy asked.

"The Willow who belongs to this time is in England right now," Willow said. "She has only been there for a couple of weeks after attempting to destroy the world and we are sensing each other. I can feel her power, her anger and her grief."

"Are you okay to be here?" Kennedy asked.

"I believe so. I'll do a spell so the other Willow and I can't sense each other." Willow then chanted her spell barely loud enough for Kennedy to hear. The spell only took a minute. "Done."

"Wow; that looked easier than most of your spells," Kennedy said as orderlies were bringing two gurneys."

"Well, the spell I cast will only last for three days."

"Let's hope that three days is long enough."

Willow and Kennedy watched the short time that it took for the medical staff to get Buffy and Amber onto the gurneys.

The orderlies and all the nurses, except for the lead nurse, assisted with moving Buffy and Amber to an examination room. The lead nurse stepped up to Willow and Kennedy and said, "Please come with me. I need you two to fill out the paperwork and perhaps answer a few puzzling questions for me."

"I'll be more than happy to fill out the paperwork," Willow said with a smug grin. "As for answering your questions, I'll try to answer them, but I can't promise that I'll solve your puzzling ones."

The nurse gave Willow a curious look before politely grinning and saying, "Yes. Anyway, please come with me."

When Willow and Kennedy nodded, the nursed started walking. Willow and Kennedy just followed.


	19. Chapter 19

During the first hour of being in the year 2002, Buffy and Amber were being examined to determine the nature of their comas. When Willow and Kennedy filled out the paperwork they swapped last names for aliases as they did a few times before while being undercover for the watcher's council. Also each time they did, Buffy had used her middle name so when Willow and Kennedy filled out the paperwork for Buffy and Amber, they used Anne and Marie.

When the nurse asked her questions on what happened to Anne and Marie, Willow and Kennedy remained vague of their responses.

Buffy and Amber were placed in the same room together. When two male nurses Charlie and Dan stepped in to prepare Buffy and Amber for a MRI, while starting with Amber first, Buffy regained consciousness. Charlie saw her moving and stepped up to her while saying, "Hi; I'm Charlie and you're safe. You and your friend are…" Charlie stopped talking when Buffy quickly turned to the edge of the bed and vomited everything she had in her stomach onto the floor.

Dan was covering his mouth and said while trying not to vomit himself, "I'll go get someone from housekeeping."

Charlie nodded to Dan. As Dan was leaving the room, Charlie said to Buffy, "Well, depending on what's wrong with you, vomiting might be just what you needed." After a short time Buffy's vomiting had changed to a dry heave for a brief moment. She then slowly wiped her mouth with the back of the hand while pondering hard over her thoughts. "Are you okay enough to tell me your name?" Buffy never attempted to speak and when she looked at him, she squinted from the mind-splitting headache that she had. "Do you even know your name?"

Buffy glanced around and realized that she was in a hospital room. She glanced over at the bed next to her and saw that Amber was unconscious on the bed. She then asked in a slightly depressed tone, "Is Capt. Matuzek or Jack Logan around anywhere?"

"Who are they?" Charlie asked.

Buffy slightly shook her head before asking, "What's today's date?"

"It's… okay it's either June 9th or June 10th , but I'm not sure which."

"The year? What's the year?"

Charlie slightly chuckled before saying, "I don't think that you were in your coma that long, so it's still 2002."

"2002," Buffy mocked. "Who… how did I get here?"

Charlie picked up Buffy's chart and as he gazed at it, he said, "According to this chart you and your friend in the next bed were brought in by two other friends, Willow Masterson and Kennedy Rosenberg." Charlie saw that Buffy was trying to make sense of something. "You do know them, don't you?"

Buffy continued to ponder her thoughts for a brief moment before saying, "I know them. I need to talk to them."

"Okay, after the MRI…" Charlie was only able to get out.

"Now," Buffy practically demanded. After immediately wincing with pain, she said in more of a pleading tone, "Please. Please, I need to talk to them now. It's very important"

"Okay, but just to satisfy something for me, what is your and your friend's names," Charlie said as he glanced at Amber.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'm Anne and she's Marie."

"Okay, Anne…"Charlie had gotten out when he and Buffy saw Amber stirring. Before anything else was said Amber immediately leaned over the side and vomited. Charlie winced at the sight. "Okay, I'm renaming you two the vomit twins." Charlie then saw Dan returning with two people from housekeeping. One of the two was rolling in their cleaning cart. "Oh good just the people we need and as they clean up this reeking mess, I'll go find Willow Masterson and Kennedy Rosenberg."

"Thanks," Buffy said in a slightly depressed manner.

Charlie walked away and as the two from housekeeping stepped up, one of them asked, "What did you two eat last?"

"French food," Buffy answered.

"I'm definitely not dining at a French restaurant," Dan said.

" French food is good," Buffy again said in a slightly depressed manner. "The food wasn't why we vomited."

"Yeah; what did then?" the second housekeeper asked just before he and his partner began cleaning.

"I have a slight case of vertigo," Buffy said as she saw that Amber was done vomiting. She then spoke loud enough for Amber to hear. "I'm certain Marie was affected by vertigo also." Amber glanced over at Buffy before pondering over her own thoughts.

When Buffy spoke aloud she didn't see or hear Dr. Lisa Monroe stepping in the room. Buffy looked towards Dr. Monroe when she heard the doctor say, "Vertigo. Hi, I'm Dr. Monroe." Buffy just nodded. "Do either of you have any other symptoms besides vertigo and nausea?"

Buffy hesitated before saying, "A headache."

When Dr. Monroe looked over at Amber, Amber said, "Same here."

"Have you two been taking any drugs?" Dr. Monroe asked.

Buffy shook her head while saying, "No."

"So if I would run a Tox-screen on you two, both of you would come out clean?" Dr. Monroe.

"Do whatever tests that you feel necessary, but I'm not on drugs," Buffy said.

"Okay, well even though you two are awake and seemed to be coherent, I still would like to run those MRI tests on you two."

"Of course, but first I would like to talk to my other two friends," Buffy said as Charlie, Willow and Kennedy were entering the room.

"Okay; we'll give you and your friends sometime to talk," Dr. Monroe said. She then asked the two people cleaning, "How much longer will you be?"

"We're just about done," one of them said.

"Okay, housekeeping should be done soon and to give you sometime to talk, Charlie and Dan, will give you a few minute before returning to take you and Marie, one at a time, for a MRI."

When Buffy nodded, Dr. Monroe, Charlie and Dan walked out. Willow asked immediately, "Anne; Marie, how do you feel?"

Buffy spoke first, "Confused mostly."

"I'll see your confusion and raise you a mind-splitting headache," Amber said.

One of the two from housekeeping was spraying air-freshener as the other said, "Okay, the floor is all clean again. Just watch your step until the floor dries completely."

When Buffy gave him somewhat of a blank stare Kennedy said, "Thanks. We'll be careful."

The two from housekeeping nodded. Kennedy followed the two to the door and when the two had left with their cart she shut the door to the room. As Kennedy was walking back towards the two beds, Buffy said, "Willow, I don't know if I was hit by some strange magic, but I have two separate set of memories for the past ten years. And I don't know which set is real."

"I'm experiencing the same thing," Amber said. "With one set of memories I'm a slayer and another set I'm just an enhanced potential slayer."

Kennedy gave Amber a curious look as Willow said, "Buffy; Amber, everything that you remember is true."

"How can everything be true, Will?" Buffy asked.

Willow sat down on the edged of Buffy's bed just before saying, "Buffy; Amber, your mission to 1112 had somehow created a time paradox."

"Buffy and I created a time paradox?" Amber questioned.

"Yes. Apparently you two had set in motion two separate realities after 2003 while being in 1112," Willowed explained. "In one reality I had cast a spell and turned all the potential-slayers into slayers and in the second reality I didn't. You and Amber went to the year1112 in both realities… or at least we think you two did." Buffy thought for a second before nodding. "Anyway, when you of both realities returned, you two merged."

"We merged?" Buffy questioned while glancing over at Amber.

"Well, you and Amber didn't merge, but you of two different realities had merged into one," Willow said. "Oh, for example when Xander was split in two by that Toth demon. We had to put the Xanders back together again."

"Xander was cut in half by a demon?" Amber questioned.

"No, I'm mean Xander was doubled, like being copied by a magical Xerox copy machine" Willow said. "However, one copy had all his strong quality while the other copy had all his weak quality."

"Except Amber or I wasn't hit by a demon's Xerox machine that Xeroxes people into their respective qualities," Buffy commented.

"No," Willow said. "What happened to you and Amber was science and not magical. So none of your memories are false."

"On the bright side, you and Amber have two sets of experiences," Kennedy added.

"Will, why are we in 2002?" Buffy asked.

"When you and Amber returned to 2013 from 1112, you had returned too soon," Willow said.

"Apparently there's a glitch with the device that brings people home while going so far back in time and it brought you two… both sets of you two to the reality of when Willow had turned all the potential-slayers into slayers," Kennedy added.

"What made you realized that I was trying to stop that?" Buffy asked.

"Faith had a strange dream about you unharvesting the crop of slayers," Kennedy said. Buffy slightly grinned. "The seeds of the slayers become sterile after harvesting. Which brings me to the question; why did Faith had that dream?"

"A spirit of a strong prophet came to me in a dream and warned me that only a potential-slayer can only pass on the slayer gene to the next generation and not the slayer herself," Buffy said. "She used crops withering away as her metaphor." Kennedy just nodded to what was said. "Since I returned to the reality that all potential-slayers were turned into slayers, I must've failed."

"Oh, no, you didn't fail," Willow said.

"But I didn't cause any time shift," Buffy pointed out.

"No, but you did cause that time paradox," Willow said.

"I don't understand what you mean by a time paradox," Amber said.

"Well, as explained to Kennedy and me by Capt. Matuzek, the time paradox that you caused was two separate realities competing for the same plane of existence," Willow said.

"And the reality of when all potential-slayers got turned into full-fledge slayers was losing," Kennedy added.

Buffy and Amber gave Kennedy a confused look as Buffy asked, "How do you know that?"

"Images from the other reality were bleeding over into our reality as ghostly images that had the entire world in a panic," Kennedy said.

"What was the reason for the time paradox instead of the reality shift?" Amber asked.

"You and Buffy," Kennedy said. "Somehow you two were anchoring our reality and keeping the reality-shift from occurring."

"That's why Amber and I were sent back in time to this year," Buffy said.

"Correct," Willow said. "However, you couldn't be sent back by yourselves. That's why Kennedy and I are here."

"Where are Teresa and Brenda?" Amber asked.

"They were DOA when they returned to 2013," Kennedy said. "Capt. Matuzek is uncertain as to why they died and you and Buffy didn't."

"In one reality it was only Amber and me being sent back to 1112," Buffy said in a slight depressed manner.

"So Teresa and Brenda didn't have a double to merge with," Willow said. "That might had something to do with why they died and you and Amber didn't."

"I trust your assumptions, so most likely that was what had happened," Buffy slowly said while pondering a thought. "When we return to the year 2013 we will be returning to the reality…"

Kennedy interrupted Buffy as she finished Buffy's statement with, "Of when we potentials don't get turned into slayers. So how did we defeat the First in the other reality if we never became slayers?"

Buffy thought for a second before saying, "You did become a slayer. Every potential in our group did. But not the other potentials throughout the world."

"How?" Kennedy asked.

Buffy captured Willow's attention when Buffy said, "Willow… the Willow from the other reality had figured out a way to charm pieces of jewelry to activate the slayer's ability. The charm jewelry only works with the potential-slayer that it was cast for and as long as the potential wears the jewelry, she is a slayer."

Willow smiled before questioning, "So the me in the other reality had charmed twenty pieces of jewelry the night before the final battle against the first."

Buffy grinned and nodded before saying, "The other Willow had charmed about fifty pieces of jewelry in the past ten years."

"And that was okay to change that many potential-slayers into slayers?" Willow questioned.

"It was okay," Buffy said. "According to the spirit of the prophet, I can't deplete the well completely if I occasionally draw one bucket of water from it."

"Buffy, in the other reality, are we alive?" Kennedy asked. "I mean Willow and me."

Buffy thought for a second before saying, "Willow is. Kennedy… the other Kennedy was killed by a spiderlac demon. When we found her body, the demon had hollowed out her insides and laid its eggs within her corpse, so we had to cremate the body."

"I went after a spiderlac demon alone?" Kennedy quickly questioned in disbelief. "I mean Kennedy in the other reality."

Buffy again thought for moment before saying, "No; she had two newly charmed slayers with her. In fact, I think that she took them out on a training mission and her group came across the spiderlac demon by accident. Willow was devastated. She wouldn't date for over a year and even after she started dating again she never allowed herself to get serious with anyone." Before anything else was said there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened and Charlie and Dan walked in. Charlie glanced at each one of them before saying, "We really need to start those MRI's."

"We're ready," Buffy said.

Charlie and Dan took Amber first. Once Buffy, Willow and Kennedy were alone in the room, Buffy asked a few questions about their past while attempting to determined which memories went with which reality.

Amber was gone for an hour and when she was brought back by Charlie and Dan, the two took Buffy for her MRI. Once Buffy was out of the room, Amber questioned Willow about her slayer status. Through a simple incantation that only took a few minutes Willow had determined that Amber was a full-fledged slayer even without her cross.

During the passing hours, Buffy's and Amber's healing abilities allowed them to fully recover in less than seven hours of being in the hospital. They even felt well enough to return to the future, but Buffy expressed the need for a few more hours of R & R in order to sort out her memories. Willow was grateful for the additional hours as it gave her more time to prepare the spell that would transfer her memories to the other Willow. While Willow was working through the spell, Kennedy took the money that was given to them and went shopping for clothes for Buffy and Amber.

By 7:50 P. M., that night, Buffy, Willow, Kennedy and Amber were ready to return to 2013. Buffy and Amber had changed into the clothes that Kennedy had bought for them. Once Buffy was in her new clothes, Willow gave her the disc of Capt. Matuzek's message to himself.

Just before they were able to activate the device, a nurse entered the room and said to Willow and Kennedy, "Visiting hours are over in ten minutes."

Buffy and Amber had gotten back under the covers as quickly as they could while trying not to be seen that they were out of their hospital gowns.

"Yes; thank you," Kennedy said while attempting not to sound sarcastic.

"We'll be leaving in a minute or so anyway," Willow said with a polite grin.

The nursed just nodded and walked out. She was only a few feet from the door when she realized that she saw Buffy and Amber wearing regular clothes, but when she walked back in, all four of them were gone. She gazed the room in a frightful manner while questioning, "Where in hell did they go?"

Friday, April 12, 2013 8:05 P.M., in the embarking room of the TEC, Capt. Matuzek and his crew were relieved when they saw an incoming traveler. Their thankful mood changed into bewilderment when they saw Willow and Kennedy stepping out along with Buffy and Amber while wearing different clothing.

Capt. Matuzek couldn't contain himself as he blurted out, "Buffy, would you like to explain to me as to how you came back with Willow and another woman when it was just you and Amber who were sent into the past."

"Amber and I came upon a glitch in the system while trying to return." Buffy held up the disc while continuing to say, "This disc can explain it better than I can. And the woman is Kennedy Masterson. She's also a slayer."

"Buffy, I can't feel the other Willow," Willow said while being worried. "And I'm not in pain or feeling explody."

"Did something happen to Willow?" Buffy quickly questioned. "The Willow that belongs here… She's supposed to be with Dawn, right? In Twin Falls. Or am I remembering the events wrong?"

Capt. Matuzek realized as to why Buffy was asking those questions and commanded to no one in particular, "Someone contact our agents in Twin Falls and find out if Willow is okay there." He then turned his attention towards Buffy and her group. "You four… and Jack and Dr. Easter, come with me."

Capt. Matuzek led his small group to his office. Once inside he got the disc from Buffy and plugged it into the computer. Everyone gathered around the computer to see, but before Capt. Matuzek could play the file, his phone rang.

When Capt. Matuzek picked up, the person on the line said, "Sir, Willow, is fine. According to Leonard Kelsey, she's inside the house for the last hour and a half."

"She's inside the house that's affected by the time anomaly?" Capt. Matuzek questioned. "Why?"

"What time anomaly?" Kennedy asked.

Buffy motioned for Kennedy to wait. As Capt. Matuzek was hanging up the phone, Buffy asked, "So what does that mean?"

"Well, as you heard the Willow who belongs here is in the affected house and I believe this Willow isn't exploding into atoms because the other Willow is out of phase with our time."

"So I won't painfully explode into atoms until she steps back into phase?" Willow questioned.

"Or she might be the one who explodes," Jack pointed out.

"What do you mean that she might be the one who explodes," Willow asked.

"You're in this reality and in phase, she's not," Jack said. "When she walks back into phase, reality might see her as the double that doesn't belong."

"But I'm supposed to be the one. I prepared for it and everything," Willow insisted. "The other Willow never prepared. She won't know what to do."

"What are you talking about?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Nothing relevant to anything," Willow timidly said. "I was just psyching myself up to be the one who explodes into a billion atoms that's all." Capt. Matuzek gave Willow a skeptical stare. "If the other Willow is the one to explode she won't be expecting it and that's not fair to her. I'm not anything if not fair; especially to myself… or to my double. She belongs here not me."

"Capt. Matuzek, perhaps we should just watch the disc," Buffy said while attempting to help bail Willow out.

Capt. Matuzek shook off his thoughts before saying, "Alright, but before we do, Buffy, did you know Kennedy before this incident?"

"I did," Buffy said in a suspicious tone.

"Am I wrong to assume that the Kennedy who you knew is dead?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

Buffy hesitated before saying, "Well, the Kennedy who belongs to this reality was killed in 2006 by a demon, and yes, I knew her."

Capt. Matuzek slightly nodded before saying, "Okay." He then started the message.

During the message, Buffy was occasionally glancing at Capt. Matuzek's facial expression, but each time she couldn't really see a positive or negative reaction from him. Willow glanced over at Dr. Easter a few times while trying to figure why her senses were tingling.

When the message ended, Dr. Easter commented, "So we're not living in the real timeline."

"The real timeline was me turning all the potential slayers into full-fledge slayers," Willow said.

"And that would unintentionally cause the slayer's line to end in a few generations from now," Buffy added. "The First Evil will rise up again after that and turn Earth into a hell dimension."

"I'm confused as to why the slayer's line will end," Jack said.

"A slayer gene is a very rare recessive gene," Buffy explained. "She must get the two slayer genes from both parents and once a potential-slayer is chosen, the two slayer genes in the potential-slayer are magically transformed which gives the slayer her abilities. Also once a potential-slayer is chosen as a slayer, she can no longer pass the potential-slayer gene to the next generation."

"So potential-slayers can pass on the slayer gene to the next generation, but not a full-fledge slayer?" Dr. Easter questioned.

"Correct." Buffy then gestured towards the computer as she continued to say, "In that Capt. Matuzek's timeline, all the potential-slayers were turned into full-fledge slayers and the slayer's line would have completely withered away and eventually leaving the Earth slayerless."

"And defenseless against the demons," Kennedy added.

Capt. Matuzek while still showing no emotions of the news that he received had pulled out the disc and said, "Buffy, what you did was one of the worse if not the worst time infraction that had ever been committed." Buffy was about to say something, but he motioned for her not too with his left hand as he placed the disc on his desk with his other hand. "The knowledge of magic, demons and demon hunters are only thought to live in the fiction writer's imagination." He took off one of his shoe and held it in his hand. "Of course there are few groups that know about demons and even fewer groups that know what a slayer is, so bringing this particular time infraction to the courts or to the TEC board would be next to impossible to prove without physical proof." He then pounded the disc with the heel of his shoe until it was unusable. "And since there is no physical proof… well not anymore anyway, all I have is speculations." Buffy grinned. "Now I'm not going to act on a wild speculation about you using this facility to go back in time to prevent your younger self from magically changing the world. For one, I think my superiors would question my sanity even if I tried. So in conclusion, this matter is closed."

"Thank you, Capt. Matuzek," Buffy said.

Capt. Matuzek finally grinned as he said, "Congratulations, Buffy. You are the only person that I know who is getting away with a severe time infraction. And to be clear about this, any future time infractions won't be dismissed as I did this one."

"Yes, Capt. Matuzek," Buffy said. "And thanks again."

"You're welcome," Capt. Matuzek said. "Now am I wrong to think that Kennedy will be joining your group?"

"I definitely can use you, Kennedy," Buffy said.

Kennedy grinned before saying, "Oh, I'm in with both feet."

Buffy grinned and said, "Good."

"Kennedy, I'm guessing that you had signed a non-disclosure agreement in that other reality…" Capt. Matuzek was only able to get out.

"I know; I'll have to sign another one," Kennedy said.

Capt. Matuzek grinned before opening his top desk drawer while saying, "Yes. I even have one available." He then reached in, pulled one out and handed it to Kennedy."

"I need a…" Kennedy was only able to get out before Capt. Matuzek pulled out a pen. "Pen." She took it. "Thanks."

As Kennedy was filling out the form, Dr. Easter said, "Buffy; Amber, according to that message that we just watched, you two… of two separate realities had merged with your respective counterpart. Does that mean that you have memories of both realities?"

"God yes," Amber blurted out. "And it's very confusing."

"Confusing?" Dr. Easter questioned before he saw Willow curiously staring at him. He then told Willow, "I'm fascinated by all of this?"

Willow politely grinned as she said, "It's understandable?"

"To get back to your confusing question…" Buffy said before realizing how that had sounded. "I'm mean your questioned about being confused. I'm sure it's the same way for Amber, but for me I'm having a difficult time determining which set of memories goes to which reality."

"I can see how that would cause confusion," Jack said as Kennedy pushed the signed papers back to Capt. Matuzek.

"Okay, Kennedy's reappearance will most likely be bringing up some major questions by all who knew her," Capt. Matuzek began. "The people outside this facility must not learn the truth so you will need to get creative of your answers with them. As for the people inside this facility, keep it on a need to know basis."

With mixed responses of 'yes, sir' and 'yes, Capt. Matuzek' they all responded at the same time.

"Buffy; Amber, about your mission, do either of you have anything major to report before writing your written report?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

Capt. Matuzek saw the slight confused expressions on Buffy's and Amber's faces before Buffy said, "Okay, I actually have two sets of memories of our first mission. They were very similar though. In both realities the same person, Crystal Barnwell from Detroit, was sired and sent back into the past by Dr. Briers. But she wasn't sired in Detroit. In fact she was lost somewhere in Ohio while on her way to West Virginia. So I'm thinking that Dr. Briers is somewhere in Ohio."

"That's actually not a bad lead," Capt. Matuzek said as Willow again stared at Dr. Easter in a curious manner. This time Kennedy saw the stare that Willow was giving him. "I'll see what I can do about finding out what car she was driving and then put out an APB on the car. Once we locate the car, we'll find out where she was sired."

"Sounds good," Buffy said.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about your mission before it goes into your report?" Capt. Matuzek asked. Buffy and Amber shook their heads. "Well, normally I would like your report within twenty-four hours, but giving the circumstances of your first mission I'll give you forty-eight hours and that's all I have. If you need help writing it, Jack or one of the other timecops can help you. Okay, before I dismiss everyone, there is something I'd like to know from the other reality."

"Sure, what is it?" Buffy asked.

"In the other reality there were over hundred slayers and I can't help to think that the events leading up to Dr. Briers' stealing the time machine were different," Capt. Matuzek.

"It was totally different," Kennedy said.

Capt Matuzek glanced at Kennedy before asking, "How were they different?"

"Well, in 2005 we became an association and went public," Buffy began. "The European nations along with several other nations outside Europe welcomed us with open arms, but the United States treated us as the enemy. By order of the United States president the slayers inside the United States were hunted down like terrorists by homeland security. If one was found her name was instantly added to the FBI's watch list. Anyone from the Slayer's Association or its brother organization the Watcher's council who was not a U. S. citizen, tried to enter the U.S. had better have all his or her papers in order or he or she wasn't allowed inside the United States. If he or she did get in the United States, that person was followed by FBI agents. Of course they didn't know that we knew we were being followed. If we needed or wanted to movie around within the United States covertly we had members who lived in the United State who never made the United States' watch list and we used them to move around unwatched."

"I'm actually glad that we slayers can start over in a reality where the U.S. government doesn't know about us," Kennedy added.

"What were the events with Dr. Briers?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Well, like in this reality, the land of where Sunnydale was at was smoothed out at its new depth and New Sunnydale was constructed," Buffy began. "Because of how we were being hunted by the homeland security, we were more than reluctant to get a slayer or a group of slayers in there. So like in this reality, Dr. Briers was visiting New Sunnydale when he was sired. And when he had stolen the new time machine the TEC actually came to us."

"Interesting," Capt. Matuzek said. "Anyway, we're done here, so everyone's dismissed."

Except for Capt. Matuzek, everyone left the office. Once in the hall, Buffy told Willow and Kennedy, "Capt. Matuzek had given us the same office in this reality."

"We know," Willow said. Buffy gave her a curious look. "We've seen Giles, the ghost Giles, walking into that office when all hell was breaking loose in our home reality."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Well, let's go talk to him."

Buffy and her group went one way through the halls as Jack and Dr. Easter went the other.

Kennedy looked back to see how far away Jack and Dr. Easer were before asking, "Will, why were you staring at Dr. Easter the way you were?"

"I was picking up a bad vibe from him," Willow said.

"What kind of vibe?" Buffy questioned.

"I never picked up a vibe like that before so I don't really know what I was sensing," Willow said.

"Did the other Willow get a bad vibe from Dr. Easter?" Kennedy asked.

"She never mentioned it if she did," Buffy said.

"Well, be on guard around him," Willow said.

"Consider me on guard," Buffy said.

"Buffy what's the information on that time anomaly that Willow… the other Willow is caught in?" Kennedy asked.

During their walk to the office, Buffy explained the time anomaly that Valerie had caused.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N I am actually reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 as each comic book comes out. I'm not sure yet, but I might have Buffy, Willow, Kennedy and Amber refer to that reality from time to time. (Also I just very recently learn about 'Fray' and I'm currently reading that too. In case you haven't heard of 'Fray' it's a comic book that was put out by the creators of Buffy in 2003 and it's about a vampire slayer hundreds of years in the future. )**

**Again I would like to mention that there will be spoilers throughout my story. **

At a Washington D.C. police station, Detective Dustin Long was being temporarily controlled by Lowkey to search for information on Crystal Barnwell of Detroit. There were several matches found with the name 'Cyrstal Barnwell', but only one who lived in Detroit. Lowkey learned all the pertinent information on Crystal in matter of minutes.

Just before Dustin closed out of the information another Detective Alice Ramsey caught enough of a glimpse to see what he was searching. As Dustin was redisplaying his unfinished report, Alice asked, "So who's Crystal Barnwell?" Dustin never responded. "Did you hear me, Dustin?" Alice placed her hand on his shoulder while saying loudly, "Dusty!" Dustin jumped and faced Alice with a quick jerk. "Hey, are you okay?"

Dustin rubbed his eyes while saying, "I'm fine. I must have zoned out there for a moment."

"Perhaps you should stop fondling your bride at night and get more sleep," Alice commented.

Dustin smirked before saying, "Funny."

Alice grinned before saying, "I thought so. Anyway, who's Crystal Barnwell?"

Dustin gave her a curious look before saying, "I never heard of her."

"And you just randomly run names through the computer for kicks?" Alice questioned.

"What are you talking about?" Dustin asked.

"I'm talking about you running Crystal Barnwell's name through the computer," Alice said.

"When was I supposed to have done that?" Dustin asked.

"Two minutes ago; just before you jumped out of your skin," Alice said.

Dustin gestured to his report and said, "This has been the only thing that I've been doing for the past—" He looked at his watch. "—twenty minutes."

"Dustin, when I stepped up, you had information about Crystal Barnwell being displayed," Alice insisted.

"I haven't even heard of anyone name Crystal Barnwell, so there is no reason for me to run a search on the name," Dustin insisted.

"I know what I…" Alice got out before a thought occurred to her. "Whoa; have you ever lost time before?"

Alice saw the nervous expression on his face as he gestured towards the computer while saying, "I, I need to finish this report."

"You have lost time before, haven't you?" Alice questioned.

"Alice, I really have to finish this report," Dustin said.

"Fine, don't say, but it can be endangering lives… your fellow officers' lives if you're blacking out from time to time."

Dustin sighed before saying, "It happened only once before and it was about a year ago. I lost an hour one day and when I came out of it, I was in a part of town that I haven't ever been in before. I was drinking… however, it was my first drink that night and I thought someone had spiked my drink. I even investigated it for two days. When my investigation turned up nothing, I dropped it."

"Okay, well, if it happens again, you might want to speak to someone about it," Alice suggested

"I'm not crazy," Dustin insisted.

"I never implied that you were. Anyway, I have my own report to type up." When Dustin nodded Alice walked away.

At the TEC headquarters, Giles was in the office explaining to Briton, Jennifer and Brie what it meant to be a slayer and a potential-slayer. When the door opened to the office, Giles was stunned to see Kennedy stepping in behind Buffy and Willow. Giles turned slightly pale and the only thing out of Giles' mouth was, "Good Lord."

When Buffy saw who were in the office, she uttered out while being surprised too, "Brie Daniels."

Brie, Brie's parents and Giles gave Buffy a curious look just before Brie asked, "How do you know my name?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "I can't really answer that, but I do know who you and your parents are."

"Who are you?" Jennifer asked.

"I'm Buffy." She then pointed towards the others. "They're Kennedy, Willow and Amber."

"Kennedy, you look quite healthy from the last I heard about you," Giles said.

Kennedy said with a smug grin, "I am quite healthy."

"Buffy, you're Cat and Nichole's boss," Brie said.

Giles saw Buffy searching her thoughts before she said, "I am."

"Are you okay, Buffy?" Giles asked.

"I'm fine," Buffy said. "Can I talk to you in the hall for a second though?"

Giles stood up before telling Brie and her parents, "Excuse me for a moment."

"Of course," Briton and Jennifer said.

Giles followed the four into the hall. After the door was shut behind them, Giles questioned, "Excuse me for not sounding more ecstatically happy to see you alive, Kennedy, but why are you alive? And, Willow, why aren't you in Twin Falls with Dawn?"

"I'll fill you in on the full details later, but Kennedy and Willow are from an alternate reality," Buffy said.

"So there are two Willows in this reality?" Giles questioned.

"I should've been exploding into atoms before now, I know, but the Willow who belongs to this reality is out of phase with time," Willow said.

"How is Willow… the other Willow out of phase?" Giles questioned.

"I don't know why, but she entered Valerie's house," Buffy said. "So why is Brie and her parents here?"

"Oh, ah, Dean, Sam, Cat and Nichole took the initiative and went hunting," Giles began. "Cat searched a homeless shelter for vampires and found Brie and her parents there. She realized right away that Brie was a potential."

"I guess they didn't find any vamps?" Kennedy questioned.

"Actually there's a worker at the shelter who is promising the homeless a job, but the address given was to a vamp-nest," Giles said. "Brie's parents were given that address."

"What do you mean it was…" Buffy was able to get out before it dawned on her what happened. She gave a frustrated laugh before saying, "Dean and the others went after the vampires."

"They did," Giles said. "They killed six out of eight of them along with rescuing Brie and her family from the vampires. The two vampires that weren't killed ran off."

"Not one of them had any business walking into a vamp-nest," Buffy commented.

"I did point that out to them," Giles said.

"Where are they?" Buffy said in an unpleasant tone.

"I believe they're in the gym working out," Giles said. "Before you go to them, how is it that you know Brie and her parents?"

"It's part of the story of how Kennedy and Willow got here, but Amber and I have knowledge of their reality along with this one," Buffy said. Giles gave Buffy a curious look. "So if I hesitate at answering you on something, it's just that I'm trying to sort out the memories I have. Anyway, did Brie cripple a boy in this reality as she did in the other reality?"

"She did," Giles said. "By them being sued was why they lost everything they had and ended up in the shelter."

"Are there any charges against her?" Kennedy asked. Giles gave Kennedy inquisitive look. "In my reality there were criminal charges against her. We had to bust her out of a government prison in order to get her to England"

Giles gave Kennedy a confused look before saying, "No charges were filed, but the parents are being sued. I figured the Watcher's Council could pick up those legal charges. I think I can claim it as a foundation gift."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Well, you're the one who's in charge of that. Anyway, I better go talk to the others."

Giles nodded. As he walked into the office again, Buffy and the others walked towards the gym.

They had taken only a few steps when Kennedy said, "I guess Cat was one of the slayers I never met."

Buffy thought for a moment before saying, "Actually I think you do know her. Cat is Wendy Kolmar."

"Oh, she's the St. Louis Slayer," Kennedy said. "I didn't know her that well though. She was killed in downtown St. Louis at the age of eighteen while attempting to take out a vamp-nest."

In the gym, Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat were working out with weights along side a few TEC employees. Xander was on his knees while assisting Hunter to tumble on the mat.

Xander was the first one to see Buffy and others walking in. When he saw Kennedy, he stood up while uncontrollably blurting out, "Kennedy!"

Hunter stopped rolling around on the mat. When he saw Buffy he got up and ran full force to her while yelling her name. Buffy scooped Hunter up in her arms and gave him playful kisses. Hunter just giggled. Xander was walking up when Buffy told Willow and Kennedy, "This little guy is Dawn's son, Hunter."

Before Willow or Kennedy were able to respond, Xander asked, "Will, so what did you do? And why aren't you with Dawn in Twin Falls?"

"Xander, I'll give you the full story later, but the short story is that Willow and Kennedy are from an alternate reality," Buffy said.

"Seriously," Xander asked in a skeptical tone.

"I heard about Kennedy from this reality dying and she wasn't raised from the dead," Willow said. "Well, not in this reality anyway."

Xander gave Willow a curious look as Buffy said, "Xander, take Hunter. I need to talk to Nichole and Cat."

Xander took Hunter while saying, "No problem."

Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat were already walking up and when Buffy faced them, Nichole asked, "So how did your mission go, Buffy?"

"It had its glitch at the end and I'll tell you all about it soon, but first, I want to discuss that vamp-nest that you four went after while I was away," Buffy said as she crossed her arms.

"We kicked ass," Cat said in a tone as if to be praised.

"I heard and I do like that enthusiasm, but I agree with Giles" Buffy said. "You had no business going after that nest."

"We did save a potential," Cat said.

"If we didn't show up at the nest when we did, Brie and her parents would be dead right now," Dean said.

"And had it occurred to any of you to prevent Brie and her family from going to that house?" Buffy questioned.

"Well, we actually thought that we would beat them there," Cat said.

"Which brings us back to the fact that you had no business going there in the first place," Buffy said. Cat slightly huffed. "Cat, when we patrol we are only doing it for on-the-job training. Getting rid of vampires in D.C. is not our primary mission."

"We thought we were doing the right thing," Nichole said.

Buffy looked at Nichole as she said, "The dying slayer's famous last words that most likely goes back to the very beginning with the first slayer."

"So if we admit that we screwed up will this lecture end?" Cat questioned while not trying to be sarcastic.

"I wasn't meaning for this to turn into a lecture," Buffy said. "And no, I don't want any of you to admit that you four screwed up. Especially when all four of you thought you were doing the right thing so it wouldn't be a sincere gesture anyway. But for now on things will be different."

"How?" Cat asked.

Buffy gestured towards Kennedy and said, "This is Kennedy. She is a full-fledge slayer with ten years of experience. When I'm not around, she's in charge."

"I thought that there were only three full-fledge slayers," Nichole commented. "You, Faith and Tabitha."

"That glitch that I mentioned earlier about my and Amber's mission had returned us to an alternate reality… her reality," Buffy said.

"Kennedy is from an alternate reality?" Dean questioned.

"Yes and so is this Willow," Buffy said.

Buffy immediately went into details. Buffy was only halfway through her story when Willow felt the other Willow's presence. As she winced with pain of her exploding atoms, she quickly chanted the spell that she prepared.

Everyone, except for Kennedy, quickly questioned, "What's wrong, Willow?"

Kennedy was the one to say, "She's chanting the spell to transfer her memories."

It dawned on Buffy what was happening as Sam questioned, "She's doing what?"

"Quick; give me Hunter," Buffy told Xander while reaching for him at the same time.

Xander had barely let go of Hunter as Buffy turned in a way where Hunter couldn't see Willow along with Buffy shielding his eyes with her hands.

"What with the dramatics, Buff?" Xander questioned just before Willow exploded into atoms. "Holy shit! What in hell just happened to Willow?"

"A person and his or her alternate reality counterpart can't exist in the same reality," Kennedy said as Buffy uncovered Hunter's eyes.

Hunter looked around the room for Willow as Xander said, "A timecop does it all the time when going back into time when he or she was only a child."

"That's different," Kennedy said. "The person and his or her younger self are not from two different realities. And even when they are together, they can't come in physical contact with each other. If they do, they'll both die instantly."

"And you're not exploding like Willow did because your counterpart died seven years ago?" Xander questioned.

"Exactly," Kennedy said.

"So what was with chanting?" Xander asked as Hunter was getting upset that Willow was gone.

Kennedy explained to the group that Willow was transferring her memories as Buffy attempted to console Hunter while saying, "It's okay, Sweetie. Willow had to go bye-bye."

"Me go," Hunter said with a pout.

"Ah, I think you're just upset because she left without giving you a hug and kisses," Buffy said.

As Buffy continued to console Hunter, Sam asked, "Buffy, is he okay?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "There's nothing wrong with him that a long nap won't cure."

"No nap," Hunter quickly said.

"Soon, you'll being going night-night." When Hunter reached for Xander, Buffy continued to say, "Xander won't protect you from going to bed. He's actually trying to wear you out until you pass out on the mat."

"Shsh," Xander said as he took Hunter. "I don't want him learning my secret for another couple of years." Buffy just grinned.

"So finish telling us what happen," Cat said.

Buffy nodded, but before he had a chance to begin again, Dean's cell phone rang. Dean looked at the number and said, "It's Willow."

Buffy reached out her hand while saying, "Let me talk to her." Dean didn't hesitate to hand Buffy the phone. She clicked 'receive' before putting it to her ear. "Willow, are you okay?"

"Amazingly enough, I'm fine," Willow said as she attempted to stop a mild nosebleed with a Kleenex. "One second I felt this powerful energy and the next second, that powerful energy is part of me."

"So any dark roots or veins from it?" Buffy asked.

"According to Dawn, my eyes turned dark for a moment, but no veins or dark roots," Willow said. "And some of the spells that she passed to me are incredible."

"So no bad side affects?" Buffy asked.

"I consider my nosebleed, my slight vertigo and my mind splitting headache as a bad side affect, but it was totally worth it," Willow said. "Anyway, can I talk to Kennedy?"

"Of course," Buffy said before holding the phone for Kennedy to take. "Willow wants to talk to you."

Before Kennedy took the phone, she uttered out in excitement, "Yes; it worked." Buffy just grinned as Kennedy took the phone and turned to walk away with it.

"Okay, well, while they're talking, I'll finish my story," Buffy said. She then started the story at the point of where she had left off.

Before Buffy had a chance to completely finish, Giles entered and stepped up to the group. When Buffy paused at what she was saying, Giles questioned, "Is Willow still here?"

"I'm afraid you missed her big exit scene," Buffy said as Maggie Stevenson, Blake Carlson entered the room. "What's up?"

"To look for the vengeance demon's power source, I perform a spell that would uncover invisible objects and magic," Giles began. He didn't see the slightly confused look that Buffy had given him. "I found what I was looking for so the spell worked like a charm, but seconds before the affects of the spell wore off, I was seeing a magical signature from some garbage. Just as I went to look the spell wore off."

"What was in the garbage?" Xander asked.

"The trash was from the cafeteria so it was the food that was tossed along with a few containers from a Chinese restaurant," Giles said. "I had the trash set aside on the dock and I was hoping that I could get Willow to check it out."

"I guess it will have to wait until Willow returns," Buffy said as she, Xander and Amber saw Maggie and Blake moving towards the exercise machines while acting as if they were listening to every word that Giles was saying. However, Buffy, Xander and Amber never thought too much about it. "Anyway, what's happening with Brie and her parents?"

"I was able to get them a room at the hotel three blocks away," Giles said as Kennedy was rejoining the group. "Brie's parents don't want Brie to leave D.C., but in case she would get called as a slayer, they will allow us to train and prepare her."

"So I need to talk to Capt. Matuzek about this," Buffy said.

"I have a suggestion," Amber uttered. "My brother Harry is looking for a suitable studio to be turned into karate school. Once he finds a place, I'm sure he would allow us to utilize it for our needs."

"To be honest, Giles, I had always felt that the watcher's council should've branched out into other countries," Buffy said.

"If they were branched out eleven years ago, perhaps they wouldn't have gotten crippled so easily," Xander said.

"Since the watcher's council is a secret organization that makes no profit, where do you expect us to get the funds for these branches?" Giles pointed out.

"Giles, I think Amber is going into the right direction," Dean said.

"What do you mean?" Amber asked.

"Well, if I understand the watcher's role in all of this, part of the watcher's job is to teach fighting skills to the slayers," Dean began. "But is it set in stone somewhere that you have to only teach slayers and potential-slayers to fight?"

"You do have three fighting instructors standing next to you," Kennedy added.

"I guess that would be worth looking into," Giles said.

"I bet Harry could always use a partner," Amber hinted to.

"Amber, go talk to your brother and see if he would be willing to take on partners," Buffy said.

Amber grinned and gave Buffy the thumbs up sign before walking away. Amber was only a few feet away as Giles turned towards Cat and asked, "What did the doctor say about your arm."

Cat gave Buffy a timid glance before answering, "The doctor said that it's healing nicely. He couldn't believe that it happened today."

"You did it when you took on that nest, didn't you," Buffy asked while being slightly smug.

"It happened at the hotel when we where trying to stop the six Craigs from committing suicide," Cat said.

Kennedy gave Cat a curious look as Buffy mocked under her breath, "Suicide?" After searching her thoughts for only a moment it dawned on her. "That's right. A vengeance demon named Zoey had put a curse on the hotel. Did that get solved?"

"It did," Giles said. "Cat, why don't you tell Buffy as to what kind of injury that you have?"

"It's healing nicely, so why bore her with the details?" Cat answered.

"Those are my favorite kind, so bore me to death, Cat," Buffy said as she crossed her arm. "How did you injure your arm?"

"Well, I didn't actually injured it, it was inflicted on me," Cat began. "And it happed when Dean was wrestling a gun away from one of the Craigs who was attempting to shoot himself."

Buffy pondered Cat's words for a second before asking, "Cat, were you shot?"

"I was," Cat said. "The bullet went clean through and… and my arm is fine." Cat then flexed her muscle. "See; my arm is fine."

"I can't believe that you went from getting shot to walking into a vamp-nest," Kennedy commented.

"Cat, I was told once that a slayer's lifespan is short because she has a death wish," Buffy began. "Now if you are one of those slayers then you should go back to St. Louis. There is a vamp-nest somewhere in downtown St. Louis that you can try your luck again at in this reality."

"I don't have a death wish," Cat quickly said.

"Good because I can't use anyone who does," Buffy firmly stated as she glanced over between Nichole, Dean and Sam. "So for now on, all missions must be approved by me." She glanced over at Dean and Sam. "And if anyone has a problem with me calling the shots, you each know where the door is. Don't let it hit you on the way out."

"There's no problem here," Dean and Sam said followed by Nichole and Cat.

"Good," Buffy said. "Now, Cat, you join us a day later than Nichole and Amber did so you never heard as to what my single and most important rule of being a slayer is."

"And that is?" Cat asked.

"Don't get killed," Buffy said.

"Don't get killed?" Cat mocked. "Do you have hints on how not to break that rule?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "You are to follow your instincts. If your instincts are telling you to run then you run."

"So you're telling me to coward away and let a vampire or a demon go?" Cat questioned.

"Vampires and demons are nothing more than serial killers," Buffy said. "For this scenario let's say that every vampire kills one person a day. Now by you running from one powerful vampire that would've killed you if you stood and fought, you were able to dust ten less powerful vampires within that same week. In one year alone your death would have cost more than three thousands-six hundred and fifty lives in addition to yours, but because you chose not to get killed, those three thousands-six hundred and fifty potential victims were reduced to three hundred and sixty-five deaths." Buffy grinned. "Congratulations, in this scenario you had just saved a lot of lives."

"Okay, fine, those statistics makes sense," Cat said. "But what happens if I try to run and that powerful vampire runs after me?"

Buffy was about to answer when Kennedy asked, "Oh, may I answer that one?" Buffy smiled and gestured for her to go ahead. "If a vampire chases you, you are to lead the vampire to an area of where you have the advantage. And look for anything along the way that can be use as a weapon. Try to be aware of a vampire's medical condition. A severe medical condition in life can sometimes be carried over to the vampire's undead existence after being sired. So a vampire's medical condition can be used as a weapon against him or her."

"For an example?" Nichole asked.

Buffy was the one to say, "For example let's say that you were injected with a compound that stripped away all your slayer's strength and locked in a house with a mentally insane vampire who had to take pills once every six hours with a drink of water to wash it down. The only weapons that you have are a crossbow; a wooden stake and a bottle of holy water."

"Okay, that sounds a little too specific of a scenario," Sam said. "That happened to you didn't it?"

Buffy grinned and said, "Yes. With me and with the generations of slayers before me, there was this test called Cruciamentum that a slayer had to endure on her eighteenth birthday. This test was supposed to test the slayer's instinctual skills and resourcefulness. The slayer is completely stripped of her slayer ability without her knowledge by the watcher's council and then trapped in a house with a viscous vampire."

"The watcher's council was destroyed eleven years ago by the First Evil," Giles said. "We rebuilt it since then and that barbaric test is no longer practice by us."

"So what happened after you were trapped in the house?" Dean asked.

"Actually, I walked into the house willingly to save my mother and how she became a captive in this is a longer story that I'll tell you at a later time," Buffy said. "Anyway, while I was inside looking for my mother, I was confronted by the vampire. He was just about to kill me when he had some kind of attack from his medical condition. When he was fumbling for his pills, I grabbed it from him and ran. He chased me down the hall. I spotted a laundry chute that led into the basement and I slid down it to get away. When I got to the basement, I found my mom tied up. As I was attempting to untie her, we heard the vampire coming. I then spotted a water glass within the room. I dumped my bottle of holy water into it and when the vampire broke in, I pretended to flee with his bottle of pills. He took the pills from me and to wash it down he drank the glass of holy water." Buffy slightly chuckled. "You should've seen his reaction when he realized at what I did. Seconds later, he exploded into dust."

"That's a remarkable story," Cat said.

"Yeah, well, just remember that there was a point to that story," Buffy said. "And the point is, if you have to change scenery to get the advantage then do it. Make the vampire or demon fight on your terms, not the demon's. And like Kennedy was pointing out, be aware of your surroundings. You'll be amazed what can be used as a weapon." Cat gave Buffy the thumbs-up sign. "Anyway, Cat, is your arm okay enough to spar?"

Cat nodded before saying, "My arm's good."

"Good," Buffy said. "You're with me. Kennedy can spar with Nichole."

"You're not going to finish the story about how Willow's double and Kennedy got here?" Nichole questioned.

Buffy grinned before saying, "Oh yes. I forgot that I didn't finish."

"After you finish, shouldn't we be confronting Amanda?" Cat questioned.

"Who's Amanda," Buffy asked.

Cat pulled out Quincy's business card from her pocket and said, "She's the one who gave me this card. The address on the card was to that vamp-nest."

"If Amanda is setting people up to be midnight snacks then perhaps we should check it out," Kennedy said.

"Alright, we'll check it out," Buffy said. "I'll finish my story on the way there."

"You will fill me in at some point as well?" Giles questioned.

Buffy grinned before saying, "Of course. As soon as we get back."

"Very good," Giles said.

"I'll just stay here and put Hunter to bed…" Xander said before gazing at his watch. "In about an hour or two."

"Xander, I know you didn't exactly sign up to watch Hunter for twenty-four…" Buffy was only able to get out.

"Hey, no biggie," Xander said. "Hunter and I are both having a blast."

Buffy gave Xander a friendly kiss on the cheek before saying, "Thanks for your help with watching Hunter."

When Xander nodded with a smile Buffy and her group turned to walk away. Xander stayed in the gym and let Hunter play some more.

As Buffy and her group were entering the hallway, Cat asked, "What did you mean earlier when you said, I could try my luck again at a vamp-nest in St. Louis?"

Kennedy was the one to explain what happened to her counterpart in the other reality.

Buffy and her group recruited Jack's help in order to use the TEC's van along with grabbing a bag that contained six wooden stakes, one crossbow with arrows, three crosses and four bottles of holy water.

Ten minutes later, Dean, Sam, Kennedy and Nichole stay outside as Buffy, Jack and Cat entered the homeless shelter. Amanda wasn't there. The tables and chairs were folded away and the two remaining workers were arranging cots.

As Buffy, Jack and Cat gazed over the room, Ken stepped up and said, "Welcome back, Cat. I see you brought friends."

Jack showed his badge to show that he was a TEC agent while saying, "We're here to talk to Amanda."

"What is this about?" Ken asked.

"We can't say," Cat said.

"You're not homeless, are you?" Ken questioned.

When Cat shook her head, Buffy said, "Cat had a hunch to check this place out and her hunch paid off. Now it is very important that we talk to Amanda."

"Is Amanda doing something illegal?" Ken asked.

"And what part of 'we can't say' didn't you understand?" Buffy asked.

Ken took a breath before saying, "Amanda is only a volunteer and she went home an hour ago."

"And where would her home be?" Buffy asked.

"I was never told," Ken said. "Becky might know."

Buffy gestured towards the other worker while asking, "Is she her?"

Ken nodded before saying, "Yes."

"Thanks," Jack said before he, Buffy and Cat stepped away.

When they stepped up to Becky, Buffy said, "Becky, I'm Buffy. They're Jack and Cat. We're looking for Amanda and I understand that you might be able to help us to locate her."

"And why should I help you?" Becky asked.

Jack showed his badge again while saying, "This is official business."

"My uncle's a cop and that doesn't look like a police badge," Becky pointed out.

"I'm not a cop, but I used to be one," Jack said. "I'm now a government agent working at an agency called TEC, and I do have the authority as a cop in most matters. And if you need proof, just pick up the phone and call your uncle and ask."

"Fine," Becky said. "What do you want to know?"

"Amanda's address if you know it," Buffy said.

"I do know it," Becky said. She then told them the address.

Jack wrote it down as she was saying it. Once it was jotted down, he said, "Got it; thanks."

When Becky just grinned and nodded Buffy, Jack and Cat turned towards the exit and walked out.

Once they were outside and approaching the van Buffy asked, "You were bluffing in there, weren't you?"

Jack gave Buffy a big grin before saying, "Totally. We have no authority whatsoever as local police, but you be amazed as to how often that works."

Buffy gave him a smile just before they went to their respective car door and climbed in.


	21. Chapter 21

Amanda's two-story house was twenty minutes from the shelter and was across the street from a good size cemetery. Jack parked the van on the cemetery's side of the street. As he pointed to her house he said, "According to what Becky had told us, Amanda lives there."

"Well, isn't this just grand," Cat sarcastically said as she gazed at the field of headstones.

"Buffy, my spidy senses are tingling," Kennedy said.

"Mine is too," Buffy said. "Okay, Jack, Cat and I will go and find out if Amanda is home. The rest of you do a sweep of the cemetery and Kennedy is in charge."

"Are we to do the whole cemetery or just this side of it?" Kennedy asked while grabbing the bag of weapons.

"Stay to this side for now, but once we get done talking to Amanda, we might end up doing the whole cemetery," Buffy said. Buffy and the others then climbed out of the van and went their respective ways.

Jack was the one to knock on Amanda's door. When Amanda opened the door and saw Cat, she blurted out, "Hey, I know you. You came into the…" It dawned on Amanda as to who Cat was. "Okay, what's going on?"

"You're setting people…" Cat was only able to get out.

"Cat, let me handle it," Buffy said.

"Fine," Cat said.

"Amanda, you've met Cat. I'm Buffy and he's Jack. Now we're here because you are sending people to an address in a promise of a job."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Amanda asked.

"It is when the address given is to a vampire's nest," Buffy said.

Buffy saw the fear in Amanda as she nervously laughed while saying, "Vampires. I guess next you'll tell me that werewolves are real?"

"They are real actually, but I'm only here to discuss your connection to that vamp-nest that Cat took upon herself to close down," Buffy said.

In a slight anxious voice, she quickly asked, "What?"

"Quincy's vamp-nest was close down tonight and I'm here…" Buffy was only able to get out.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Amanda said apprehensively while trying to decide what to do. She then focused on Cat. "Do you have any idea of what you have done?"

Buffy crossed her arms and said, "Why don't you explain it to us."

"Before you do, can we get off this porch and go inside," Jack said.

"We don't need an invitation to enter your home either," Buffy commented.

"Are you attempting to intimidate me?" Amanda asked.

Buffy grinned before saying, "No. I just letting you know that we're not vampires."

Amanda gave Buffy a confused look before saying, "You lost me."

"You do know that a vampire can't enter your home unless you personally invite the vampire in, don't you?" Buffy asked.

"Quincy is a vampire and he comes and goes whenever he wants," Amanda said.

"Once a vampire is invited in he or she is always welcome after that, unless you do a spell that revokes that invitation," Buffy said. "So think back. Did you invite Quincy in without knowing what he was?" Amanda thought for a moment before nodding. "Now I can help you, but first you need to trust me."

"How can you help me?" Amanda said.

"Okay, I'll answer all your questions, but I'm with Jack," Buffy said. "We need to get off the porch."

"Fine; I'll be in the kitchen," Amanda said before walking away from the front door while leaving it opened.

Buffy grinned. As she entered the living room from the front door, she said, "You're learning."

In the living room were an average size TV, one couch and two chairs. The couch and two chairs were facing the TV. As Amanda led Buffy, Jack and Cat through the living room and towards the kitchen, she asked, "Now how can you help me?"

"I'm thirty-two years old and I've been slaying vampires since I was fifteen," Buffy said as they were entering the kitchen.

Amanda faced Buffy before questioning, "I hope you don't expect me to believe that?"

"I don't know what your relationship with Quincy is or how long that relationship has been going on, but in all that time has he ever mentioned a slayer?" Buffy asked.

Amanda shook her head before saying, "No. What's a slayer?"

Buffy gestured towards the chairs at the kitchen table while saying, "Let's sit down and I will explain." Amanda nodded before sitting down. Once everyone was sitting Buffy began her explanation of what a slayer was while starting with, "Sixteen years ago and before, a slayer was one girl in all the world, a chosen one…"

As Buffy continued to explain she told her about how she had drowned at sixteen and how her momentary death had activated another slayer named Kendra. Buffy tried to keep her story as short as possible by only talking about the major highlights of the past seventeen years, but even with that her story was somewhat lengthy. Amanda just simply listened to the story and gazed upon Buffy as if she had lost her mind.

When Buffy finished, Amanda said, "Okay, I don't know if you are A, certifiably insane." Buffy just grinned. "B, you have a real active imagination or C, you are telling me the truth. Truthfully, I'm hoping for C."

"I'm telling you the truth," Buffy said. "So what is your story? How did you get hook up with Quincy?"

"Before Quincy became a vampire, he was my pimp," Amanda simply stated. There was then a short pause before she took a breath and continued to say. "I ran away from home just after my fifteenth birthday. That was twelve years ago. I met Quincy a month later and within a week, I was prostituting. Two years ago Quincy was found dead with an unexplainable neck trauma. I know it was a cold thought, but I was so relieved that he was dead. I felt that my life was suddenly handed back to me. But then a day after the funeral, there was a knock on the door. When I opened the door all hope of me living a normal life came crashing down when I saw Quincy standing there. I just stood there petrified to even move with tears running down my face. In his intimidating tone, he told me to move aside so he could enter. Without knowing better I moved aside and motioned for him to enter while saying, 'Of course. Come in.'"

"You're invitation," Cat commented.

Amanda slightly nodded before she continued to say, "I didn't know that he was a vampire until he was inside and his face had changed. He made it clear that night that he still owned me and if I didn't do what he wanted, he was going to kill me. So for fear of my life I listened to him. I prostituted for another year for him, but this time, Quincy fed off of the men afterwards. There was a police investigation because of the large number of deaths and missing people of the ones who I was setting up during that year. A Detective Long led the investigation and for some reason, the investigation just ended with no reason or explanation. A few days before that though, Quincy had already figured out that missing homeless people don't rank as a high priority for the police to solve."

"And so the vamp-nest opened its doors for the homeless who were seeking jobs," Cat said.

Amanda nodded before saying, "Quincy would've killed me if I didn't help."

"Amanda, I can help you to take back your life," Buffy said. "You need to absolutely trust me though and do everything that I tell you."

"I trust you," Amanda said.

"Good," Buffy said. "Do you have a friend who you can stay with tonight?"

"Ones that are not vampires," Cat added.

"No; I pretty much keep to myself," Amanda said.

"What about a hotel?" Jack asked.

"Hotels and motels are public places," Buffy said. "Vampires don't need an invitation to enter public places, unless a person actually takes up permanent residence there."

"Perhaps you three can stay here tonight," Amanda hinted to.

Buffy grinned before saying, "There are actually seven of us. Two more slayers and two demon hunters are doing a sweep of the cemetery across the street as we speak."

"I'll make room for them too," Amanda said.

Buffy continued to grin as Cat said, "Amanda, we killed six out of eight vampires tonight at the house, so perhaps Quincy was one of the vampires that we killed."

"Knowing Quincy the way I do, I'm certain that he was one of the two who survived," Amanda said.

"We'll go with the assumption that he wasn't dusted," Buffy said. "Anyway, Cat, do you have your cell phone with you?" Cat just nodded. "Okay, call Dean or Nichole. Let whoever you call know that I want to see all four of them here."

"You got it," Cat said just before getting out her cell phone.

In the cemetery, minutes before, five vampires had jumped out at Kennedy, Dean, Sam and Nichole. Before Nichole, Dean and Sam had time to even make a move, Kennedy had dusted two in matter of seconds without even a fight. During the fight with the remaining three vampires, Nichole's phone and then Dean's sounded within a short time of each other.

In the house, Cat was putting her phone away while saying, "Okay, neither one are answering."

"Let's give them a few minutes before we get worried," Buffy said. "They just might be preoccupied."

In the cemetery, Sam had been knocked to the ground, but before the vampire could take advantage of the situation, Kennedy threw her stake into the vampire's back while piercing the heart. As Kennedy was readying herself with another stake, Nichole dusted the fourth vampire. The fifth vampire saw what had happened to his companions and took off running at a brisk pace.

Kennedy saw that Nichole was about to give chase and before Nichole had a chance to do so, Kennedy grabbed her arm while saying, "Don't. There's no telling where he might lead you."

Nichole took a deep breath to collect herself before saying, "Fine. I won't."

Dean checked his missed call and said, "Cat was calling."

"It could've been Buffy," Kennedy said.

Dean returned the phone call and during the conversation, he filled Buffy in on the slight skirmish. When he hung up, he told the others, "Buffy wants us at the house. She'll explain what's up when we get there."

A few minutes later Amanda was letting Kennedy and her group into the house. Before anyone was able to ask a question, Buffy said, "Okay, here's the situation. A vampire named Quincy has been intimidating Amanda to do stuff for him. Tonight Amanda gets her life back. Kennedy, I need you to return to TEC headquarter with Jack and check Willow's supplies. If she has what we need to cast the spell to revoke the vampire's invitation then return here with it otherwise you don't really need to return. Dean; Sam, we won't need you two either so both of you can go back with Kennedy and Jack."

"What will you, Cat and Nichole be doing?" Dean asked.

"Baby-sitting me," Amanda said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "We'll be hanging out here to make sure that Quincy won't be getting in tonight."

"With us killing four vampires in the cemetery and them killing six others earlier, Quincy has to know by now that there is at least one slayer in town," Kennedy said.

"If he even knows what a slayer is," Amanda said.

"Kennedy has a point though," Sam said. "After ten vampires being dusted in one evening, Quincy has to know something is up even if he doesn't know about slayers."

"Which means he will want to lie low," Buffy said. "I expect that he'll want to come here for that. What he won't know is that we'll be waiting."

"Sam and I could sit outside and keep watch on the house," Dean suggested.

Buffy shook her head while saying, "Quincy will smell you long before you even get a chance to see him. So no; I don't want you or anyone else anywhere near the house."

"Alright," Dean said.

"We'll be back either with the spell ingredients or after first daylight to get you," Jack said. Buffy just nodded. "Until then, have a goodnight."

"Goodnight," Buffy said followed a chorus from the others.

Once Kennedy, Jack, Dean and Sam had left Amanda locked the door. As she turned to face Buffy, Nichole and Cat, she asked, "Would you three like to watch TV or… or bed… or…"

"TV is good," Cat said.

Amanda grinned and as she walked towards the TV she said, "Other than watching TV and sleeping there's really nothing more to do here."

"TV is fine," Buffy said as she and Nichole sat on the couch. Cat sat in one of the chairs. Once Amanda turned on the TV she sat in the other chair.

In Twin Falls, everyone stood around while watching Dawn putting on a light jacket as she was preparing herself to enter Valerie's house to begin the spell that will turn back the clock by twenty-four hour increments. Willow was holding the flashlight and the other supplies that Dawn was to use. When it came time for Dawn to take the items, Willow told her, "You have to go back into the past on November 1st, 2012 either right at midnight or a minute or two afterwards."

"You told me this already," Dawn said as she took the supplies. "Getting there too soon will cause a time shift that would nullify this event and we don't know what the consequences of that would be. And if I get there too late, Valerie is good as dead. And, oh yes, I can't trust my watch to be right so I will have to stop traveling back in time before my target date… preferably between November 3rd and November 8th in order to reset my watch and I can do that at a twenty-four-hour gas station three blocks away."

"Okay, Sweetie, I'm just making sure that you remember what needs to be done," Willow said.

"I remember," Dawn said. "So all you really need to do is wish me good luck."

Willow grinned while saying, "Good luck."

Dawn nodded; turned towards the house; took a deep breath and then took off walking at an average pace towards the house.

In Washington D.C., Jack was driving up to TEC headquarters as firemen were dragging their hose and equipment out of the docks. The TEC nightshift crew, Giles, Amber, and Xander while holding Hunter were standing around while waiting to get the 'all clear' so they could reenter the building.

Jack had stopped the van in front of the building to let his passengers out before parking the van at the first available spot. As Kennedy, Dean and Sam were getting out, Sam called out, "Giles!"

Giles, Amber and Xander faced the group and as the group was walking up, Kennedy asked. "What's going on here?"

"The trash on the dock caught fire," Amber said.

"The trash that I wanted Willow to check over had caught fire," Giles corrected.

"Anything else caught fire?" Sam asked.

"It started to spread when the fire truck arrived, but mostly it was the trash that was set to the side for me," Giles said.

"It sounds as though someone didn't want Willow to magically snoop through that trash," Dean commented.

"It definitely suggests that," Giles said.

"Willow had picked up a bad vibe earlier from Dr. Easter," Kennedy said. "To find out what's going on we should probably start with him." She gazed over the crowd that was spread out in front of the building. "Where is he?"

"I haven't seen him at all during this," Xander said. He then saw Claire and called out for her. When she looked, Xander motioned for her to come over.

When Claire stepped up she asked, "What's going on?"

"We actually want to talk to Dr. Easter and we were wondering if you had seen him," Xander said.

"He left right after the briefing ended that Kennedy and Amber were in," Claire said.

"So he wasn't here when the fire got started?" Sam questioned.

Claire gave Sam a curious look before saying, "Not at all. I wonder what did start the fire."

"We were wondering that very same thing," Kennedy said. "Are you certain that Dr. Easter was nowhere around when it erupted?"

"I'm quite sure," Claire said. "He was running late as is and he rushed out in order to meet Penney, his fiancée, at the ballot." Claire then noticed that people were being allowed to return to the building. "Well, it looks as though the crisis is over. I'm going back inside."

"We'll be right behind you shortly," Giles said.

When Claire walked away, Kennedy asked Giles, "Who all knew about why you left the trash sitting out to the side?"

"Just our group," Giles said.

"It wasn't anyone of us…" Sam said before being interrupted.

"Wait," Amber said. "There were two TEC agents listening in on our conversation earlier. They most likely heard every word that Giles told us about that garbage."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Xander said as he was remembering something. "Oh, wait. They wouldn't know anything about how the fire got started though."

"How do you know?" Amber asked.

"Because I was in the gym with Hunter up until the fire alarm sounded," Xander said. "Those two agents were there too."

"That narrows the list back to one of us," Kennedy said.

"Except the only us that were here during the time of the fire were Giles and Xander… and of course Hunter," Sam pointed out.

"Okay, Hunter, just confess and we'll call it a night," Xander jokingly said.

"No night-night," Hunter said.

"Boy, I can't wait for you to get older and understand my jokes," Xander said. "You may even find them funny and laugh." Without really understanding what was said, Hunter laughed. "And yet you're old enough to mock me."

"Hey, what if one of us were bugged?" Sam suggested

"You think one of us is carrying around a transmitter?" Giles asked as Amber pondered a thought."

"Perhaps it's a mystical bug," Amber said.

"That's a bit of a reach, don't you think?" Dean asked.

"Perhaps not," Giles said as he pondered his thoughts. "The garbage that was destroyed by the fire was food from this facility's cafeteria, except for the Chinese containers."

"Are you thinking that there was an extra ingredient added to the Chinese food?" Kennedy questioned.

"I can't think of a better way to get a mystical bug within the facility," Amber said.

"But who would do it and why?" Kennedy asked. Everyone shrugged including Hunter as he mocked everyone's movements.

"We should hit the books," Giles suggested.

"Where are Buffy, Nichole and Cat?" Xander asked.

"I'll tell you on the way upstairs," Kennedy said just before they took a step towards the front entrance

"Sam and I could ask around and see who ate the Chinese food," Dean said.

"We should hold off about doing that," Giles said. "Whoever this person or demon is who has this place mystically bugged could become extremely dangerous for all of us if he or she even suspects that we know."

"Alright, I won't investigate it," Dean said just before they each went through the entrance door one by one. After they were inside, Kennedy told Giles and Xander what Buffy, Cat and Nichole were doing.

Once everyone was upstairs and in the office, Kennedy checked Willow's magic supplies; however, an ingredient was missing that was needed to revoke a vampire's invitation. Kennedy called Buffy and let her know that she won't be returning.

In Twin Falls, Dawn had successfully turned back the clock by twenty-four hours. The sensation she felt left her feeling as though she had just gotten off of a moderately intense amusement park ride. As she was preparing to repeat the spell, she uttered, "Well, Six Flags still have nothing to worry about."

Outside the house, one of the men assigned to help quarantine the area uttered out to no one in particular as he stared at the bedroom window, "There's that flash of light again."

"There'll be another flash in about eighty to eighty-seven seconds from now," another person said.

"I wonder what's causing it," the first man said.

"Don't know, but according to the neighbors, those flashes of light had been going on since the beginning of November of last year," the second person said. "They always occur twice and they always occur in a set of two's. "

"I also heard that the first set occurs one to two minutes earlier than the previous evening while the second set normally occurs one minute later than the previous morning," a third person said.

"According to the police report on November 5th, the two sets of flashes were only thirty minutes apart from each other, but twenty-four hours later it was about an hour apart," the second person said. "Since then the two sets of flashing lights remained predictable."

"And no one thought to find out why that those flashing lights are occurring?" A fourth person asked.

"Well, at first, it was different people in the neighborhood who were noticing it at different times," the second person said. "It wasn't really until mid to late December when it was being observed by everyone in the neighborhood as a group and then they did try to figure it out. But each person who had attempted to get inside in time to witness it would miss it. That person would then come out disoriented. After a while the people in the neighborhood just gave up trying to figure it out."

"Why didn't they contact the authorities," the first man asked.

"They did, but the authorities considered it to be a hoax," the second man said.

"They don't see it as a hoax now," the fourth person said as they saw another flash of light.

As the minutes passed to Dawn's perspective she had repeatedly cast her spell as quickly as possible. She was averaging eighty-five seconds to write out the three symbols and say the incantation. The spell that will return Dawn twenty-four hours into the future only required the reverse incantation while in the presence of the previously drawn out symbols that had sent her twenty-four hours into the past; so by Dawn returning to the future will only take a fraction of the time that it took her to get into the past. When she first started out, she drew her three symbols on the floor just outside the circle, but after repeating the spell more than thirty times she was drawing the symbols on the walls. Her breathing was also becoming a lot easier the further back in time she went and by the time she had repeated the spell a hundred times her breathing was normal.

Dawn stopped casting her spell on a specific count. She then slipped out the back door unseen by the neighbors. The walked to the gas station took ten minutes and once there she learned that the date was November 5, 2012 with the time being 11:07 P.M.

Dawn stood at the counter with the cashier watching as she corrected her watch while mumbling, "Okay, it takes slightly more than a minute to do the spell and I have to repeat the spell five more times. So I should begin again at 11:50." Dawn then saw the cashier looking at her in a disturbed manner. "I'm just thinking to myself." The cashier politely grinned and nodded. "Thanks again for the information."

"No problem, Miss," the cashier said. Dawn nodded and walked away.

Dawn went straight to the house and as she was trying to slip back in, a man walking his dog saw her entering the house.

Dawn went directly to Valerie's bedroom and drew out the next set of symbols. She then shined her flashlight on her watch and saw that she had a few minutes before she needed to recite the incantation. As she was waiting for the required minutes to pass she saw a police car pulling up. Two police officers stepped out and when Dawn realized that the two officers were focusing on the house, she couldn't help saying, "Oh shit!" Dawn then recited her incantation as quickly as possible.

The officers were shining their flashlight into the windows when they noticed a flash of light that had originated from an upstairs window. The lock to the door was already busted by the fireman on November 1 when a fire broke out around midnight so all the officers had to do was push the door open. They drew their guns just after entering the house and they went upstairs as stealthy as they could. They searched the house in a slow and thorough manner. After twenty-five minutes of looking for the reported intruder, they gave up and left the house.

October 31, 2012, at 6:36 P.M., Valerie was on the phone while talking to her mom. Valerie was told two weeks ago that her parents might be gone until November 2, but the plans weren't definite so her mom was just calling to let her know that the plans had been confirmed. After hanging up the phone she went to her bedroom. She disassembled her bed and then placed the parts and the mattress in the hallway in order to gain space for the spell. Once she gained the space that she needed, she went to her closet and pulled out her magic supplies. While going off of a diagram from a spell book she drew an encircled pentagram along with the symbols that she came up with for the spell. Once her symbols were in place, she arranged ten candles within the circle and ten more on the outside of it. Once everything was set, she glanced at her watch and saw that she had some time to kill before she was to recite the incantation. To pass some of that time, she made herself dinner.

Because of Valerie's fascination of witchcraft and demons, she was shunned by all, but one of her friends since her high school sophomore year. Kyra, the one friend who she had left, had moved to Wichita Kansas when they were both twelve years old and they conversed by phone and emails every chance they got.

When Valerie got done eating, she called Kyra. Kyra had picked up a bad vibe from Valerie right away and when Kyra asked about it, Valerie just sidestepped her questions. When Kyra realized that Valerie wasn't going to give her a satisfying answer, she said, "Val, I have plans tonight and I'm actually running late for it already. So unless you are going to tell me what is actually wrong, I'll call you tomorrow."

Valerie slightly hesitated before answering, "I'm tired of my nightmares is what's wrong."

"Val, they only nightmares," Kyra said.

"Kyra, do you remember when we were eight and we went with my grandpa to visit his brother on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation?"

"I remember. What about it?"

"I never told anyone this, but when I was alone with my grandpa's brother, he told me that the great spirits would give him visions from time to time. He told me that the great spirits had given him a vision when he saw me once we arrived."

"What was the vision?"

"He told me that a demon uprising was about to attempt to make its presence known to the world, but it was going to be beaten back by a small group of warriors and the only reason why he had that vision, is because somehow I have some kind of connection to the demons and those warriors."

"Well, that explains a question that you asked me along with the conversation that we had afterwards that still bugs me even to this day."

"What was the question that I asked you?"

"While we were leaving the reservation, you asked me as you whispered in my ear, 'do I believe in demons?'"

"I remember. I also remember my grandpa's brother telling me that because of my connection with the demons and those warriors, I was going to get visions of my own. Now I've told you when I had my first dream about fighting demons and vampires, but what I've never told is that I would have those dreams almost every night since. Kyra, for the past four years I've been terrified to sleep. Tonight I'm changing things."

"What do you mean you changing things tonight?" Kyra asked as she heard the 'beep' of another phone call. "Hold on, Val. Someone's calling."

"Of course," Valerie said.

Valerie was on hold for a couple of minutes when Kyra came back and said, "Val, that was Bryan. He's wondering why I'm not at the party."

"Okay, I'll let you go so you can meet up with your boyfriend."

"Val, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Sure." Valerie then hung up before she continued to say, "If I'm not dead tomorrow." Valerie looked at her watch. When she saw how much time she still had, she took a deep breath and exhaled while pondering what to do to pass the time.

Valerie decided quickly as to what to do. She got out a pen and a booklet of blank paper. She then sat down at the kitchen table and wrote out a letter to her parents. She was selective to what she had wrote, but even with that what she wanted her parents to know had took several pages to complete. She had even rewritten the note five times before being satisfied at what she had. The final note was left on the kitchen table for her parents to see. The pile of scrap paper that she created was put in the sink and burned. The ashes were then washed down the sink.

After getting done with the note, Valerie still had a few minutes left and had found something to do to pass the time. At 11:35 P.M she went to her room; lit the candles; grabbed a pistol that she had concealed within her closet; stood within the circle and began her chant. The chant that she recited was something that she had composed herself and it was bits and pieces of a few incantations reworded from different spell books. The incantation was to take approximately five minutes to recite and she expected that she would have to recite it more than once.

By 11:56 P.M., Valerie had recited the incantation twice and was about to recite it for a third time when a dimensional vortex formed two feet from her head while being directly over the center of the pentagram. Valerie paused at the sight for only a second and before she had time to aim her pistol, a gaglore dropped onto the floor. Valerie quickly took aim and recited another incantation while attempting to make it move ten times slower, but the gaglore moved normally to Valerie's perspective.

Valerie shot the gaglore in the head twice during the time it took for the gaglore to get to its feet and grabbed Valerie by her throat. Three of the candles were knocked over when the gaglore lifted Valerie off the ground by her neck.

At a house across the street, a teenaged boy, with Halloween makeup partially removed, stared at Valerie's house for a moment after hearing two gunshots. He saw an odd silhouette shape through Valerie's bedroom window, but didn't really care to find out what it was. Before tuning away he saw a flash of light. "What in hell is that witch doing now?" While shrugging off what he saw, he went back to the bathroom and finished taking off his makeup.


	22. Chapter 22

Dawn appeared in the room five minutes after the gaglore dropped out from the vortex. She quickly saw the motionless characters of Valerie and the gaglore at the moment that Valerie was being held up by her throat. Valerie had a gun in her right hand. She then noticed that they were moving, but at an extremely slow pace.

When Dawn took a step, she didn't see or feel as she kicked over a burning candle. The candled rolled towards the window and when it stopped against the wall the flame continued to burn just below the curtain.

Dawn concentrated on the gaglore and Valerie and rattled off a spell that was supposed to have separated the two. When nothing happened, she attempted a different spell, but again nothing happened. "That time anomaly inside that circle must be blocking my spells. And I didn't bring any weapons. Okay, Valerie, you were once a potential so I'm going to have faith that you can hold your own against that demon… at least until we can get you to April 13, 2013." She then began the reverse incantation.

When Dawn was reciting the incantation to go forward in time, she noticed that the gaglore's head was moving towards her in an extremely slow manner. Its head had faced her just as they were moving twenty-four hours into the future. The flame that was underneath the curtain had caught the curtain on fire within minutes after they vanished from the room.

As Dawn was preparing to recite the incantation again, she noticed that Valerie was being pulled closer to the gaglore as the gaglore was looking at Dawn. Not knowing what the gaglore would do, Dawn moved to the other side of the room before she recited the incantation again.

On November 6, 2012, at 12:08 A.M., the two police officers who were dispatched to investigate an intruder at Valerie's house were inside the car as the driver was talking to the dispatcher. The one in the passenger's seat had glanced at the window again and saw a flash of light like before. "Son of a bitch!"

His partner stopped talking to dispatch and asked, "What?"

The officers was opening his car door while saying, "I saw that flash again up in the window. I'm going to check it out."

"Dispatch, I need to call you back," the officer said just before he exited the car seconds after his partner did.

"Affirmative," a female voice said over the radio.

Before the officers were able to get too far from the squad car there was a second flash from the bedroom.

The two officers entered the house with little regards at being stealthy. They move more quickly than what they did the first time and after getting upstairs, they searched the floor for several minutes without finding a clue of what had caused the set of flashing lights.

After Dawn had moved everyone into the future by ten days, she realized that Valerie was being pulled closer only for the gaglore to get the leverage that it needed for Valerie to be thrown. Valerie's and the gaglore's movements had slowed down considerably as well.

By the time that Dawn had moved everyone twenty-five days into the future, Valerie's and the gaglore's movements appeared to have stopped completely. Valerie was left suspended in midair while only inches away from the gaglore's hand.

April 12, 2013, 10:35 P.M., at TEC headquarters, the search that Giles, Kennedy, Dean, Sam and Amber were doing had turned up nothing. They exhausted all the books that they had. Kennedy picked up one of the ten random journals that Dawn had out to type into the computer.

When Giles saw what Kennedy was reading, he said, "Kennedy, what you have is a watcher's journal… which won't do us any good."

"Well, these reference books aren't doing us any good," Dean said. "Perhaps Kennedy has the right idea and search the history of other slayers."

"Well, I think this watcher was more into bird watching than watching his slayer because he keeps referring to a wounded sparrow," Kennedy said. Giles slightly laughed. "What?"

"Wounded Sparrow was the name of a Sioux teenaged girl," Giles said. "She was the slayer back in 1806 to 1808."

"Okay, this book makes more sense now," Kennedy commented. "I was wondering how a wounded sparrow defeated a Ka-Tole demon."

"What kind of demon is that?" Amber asked.

"It's a shape-shifter," Dean answered. Giles gave Dean a somewhat of a surprised look. "Sam and I tangled with one not all that long ago and that Ka-Tole was actually the fourth type of shape-shifting demon that we tangled with."

"I'm curious to know how many types of shape-shifters there are," Sam comments.

"Dozens and most of them are hard to track and even more difficult to kill," Giles said.

"You're telling me," Dean said. "Sam and I hunted that Ka-Tole across three states before we were able to corner and kill it."

"At least we think we killed it," Sam added.

Giles grinned as Amber asked, "So how did Wounded Sparrow die?"

Kennedy was about to thumb through the journal when Giles said, "She died… oh dear Lord." Everyone gave Giles a confused look. "It totally slipped my mind that Wounded Sparrow was killed while fighting a gargoyle looking demon."

"You mean the kind of demon that Valerie Blackstone was summoning?" Sam questioned.

"It's possible," Giles said. "Kennedy, let me see that journal."

Kennedy held out the journal for Giles to take while saying, "Sure."

"Giles, although each potential sees herself as the one fighting the demons in her dreams, the dreams are really memories of past slayers," Amber said as Giles took the book. "Is it possible that Valerie was dreaming of Wounded Sparrow's last fight against the demon that killed her?"

Giles was thumbing through the journal while saying, "Again it's possible. But why just Valerie and not any of the other potentials before her?"

"Well, being from a reality with hundreds of slayers being activated at once, I do know that each slayer has her own dream connection to past slayers. Wounded Sparrow just might be Valerie's. Just like the two slayers who Spike killed were Dana's… oh my god Dana. I totally forgot that when she was activated, she was in a mental institution. I wonder if she's still there in this reality. I need to find out… and get her out if she is."

"I don't think springing an insane potential slayer is what we should be doing right now," Dean said as Kennedy picked up the phone.

"Dana is not insane," Kennedy quickly said. "She was kidnapped as a child and tortured and she had a mental break down because of it. I also know exactly what to do to help her." Kennedy then began pushing buttons for the Los Angeles information. When information answered, Kennedy asked for the number to the mental institution. After getting the number she called the facility. It took several rings before a nurse answered. Kennedy then inquired about Dana. Everyone just watched Kennedy's facial expression as she learned about Dana.

When Kennedy hung up, Dean asked, "Well, is the crazy potential still in the loony bin?"

Kennedy gave Dean a warning look before saying, "Okay, if you refer to Dana as the crazy potential again, I'm going to hurt you." Dean just made a gesture as if he was backing off. "And no; she's not there. According to the nurse, her uncle got her released from the institution in 2005."

"That's good," Amber said.

"I hope so," Kennedy said.

"Is there a reason why that it might not be good?" Sam questioned.

"In my reality and most likely in this reality too, Dana's uncle had obtained his psychiatry degree in June of 2005," Kennedy said. "I met him in my reality and he does seem like a nice guy… and most likely his heart is in the right place, but when it comes to Dana's actual condition, he's in way over his head. Dana's uncle lives close to Los Angeles. I wonder if Faith would check up on her for me."

Giles picked up the phone while saying, "Since Faith doesn't know about you yet, perhaps it would be best if I was the one to make that request." When Kennedy nodded, Giles began dialing Angel's investigations. The company's answering machine picked up and after the beep Giles left a message for Faith to return his call.

After listening to the message that Giles had left, Kennedy stood up and said, "Okay, we're clearly not getting anywhere on this research, so I'm going to call it a night."

"Perhaps we all should," Giles said. "We can worry about who's mystically bugging this place after a goodnight sleep."

"I'm all for that," Sam said as everyone stood up except for Giles.

Giles picked up the phone again and said, "I should call Willow and tell her our theory of why Valerie is dreaming about gargoyles."

"Goodnight," Amber said while Giles began dialing the phone.

When Giles waved, the others left the office.

At Amanda's house, Buffy, Cat and Nichole had nodded off to sleep during a rerun movie on broadcast TV.

On April 13, 2013, 2:30 A.M., in Twin Falls, Dawn returned to her present time with Valerie and the gaglore.

Everyone outside saw the final flash of light. Willow grinned while saying, "Dawn is right on schedule."

Leonard was standing next to Willow as he ordered the flood lights to be turn on. The lights were to give Dawn the light that she needed. He then faced Willow and asked, "So Dawn is now going to attempt to end this time anomaly?"

"She'll end it," Willow said. "I have faith in her."

"So how is she going to do that exactly?" Leonard asked.

"Dawn will draw a circle around Valerie's circle," Willow began. "The width between the two circles will be two to three inches wide. She will then draw out twelve symbols and say two incantations. The first incantation will create a time barrier at her circle and the second will eliminate Valerie's time barrier. Once Valerie's barrier is gone, the time differential within the circle will decrease by ten percent. She will then draw another circle along with the twelve symbols and repeat the incantation. I expect that she'll have to repeat the spell five to seven time before the barrier can be crossed to where we can get Valerie to safety. After that, she can go ahead and do the final spell that will eliminate the time anomaly with no real harm."

Inside the house, Dawn had repeated the spell four times before she was barely able to see Valerie's movements of her being thrown along with the gaglore's head facing the spot of where Dawn was first seen on November 1st. Dawn drew the circle and the symbols for a fifth time and once she recited the incantation again, Valerie's and the gaglore's movements doubled, but was still extremely slow. It wasn't until Dawn had repeated the spell for the eighth time before Valerie's and the gaglore's movements became one-third the speed of Dawn's. The gaglore caught a glimpse of his reflection from the mirrors that were put up and turned away while wincing at the sight.

When Dawn saw as to how fast that they were moving, she decided to switch to the incantation that would end the time anomaly. Once Dawn rattled of the incantation, everything went to normal speed. Valerie hit the wall hard at one of the mirror while shattering the mirror and knocking her unconscious. The gun that Valerie had carried into the future was dropped and rested next to her. The gaglore immediately realized that the four walls were covered with mirrors and crashed through the widow in attempted to escape.

Outside, Willow watched as the gaglore busted through the window and was about to cast an offensive spell against the gaglore when searing pain shot through her body with a vision of what she thought was a hell-mouth opening. At the same time Buffy, Faith, Kennedy, Tabitha and Amber abruptly woke up from the same nightmarish vision. Faith and Tabitha had awakened in a midst of an Earthquake that registered four-point-seven on the Richter scale. Several other fault lines around the world shook as well with varying degrees of four-point-zero to six-point-four. The New Madrid fault line in Southeastern Missouri was the last to shake with a seismic activity of six-point-four. The elevation of the New Madrid region had also risen by fifteen feet as well.

Leonard ignored the sight of the gaglore hitting the ground running and went to assist Willow. Willow, with black eyes, pushed Leonard away as she focused on the gaglore and chanted a spell. One third of the agents at the scene were carrying and discharging their pistols at the gaglore. The gaglore was moving quickly to attack the group when the gaglore exploded into flames from Willow's spell. Within seconds the burning gaglore pieces were showering down on the crowd. Willow, now with normal eyes, turned towards Leonard and apologized for pushing him the way she did.

Inside the house, Dawn had watched the scene from the window. She then faced Valerie before rushing to her aid.

Dawn gently slapped Valerie to wake up and after a minute, Valerie was coming around. Valerie opened her eyes and saw Dawn kneeling beside her. She then abruptly sat up and quickly looked around for the demon.

As Valerie abruptly moved to her feet she rattled off quickly, "Who are you and where did that… that animal go?" Dawn was back on her feet as Valerie continued rattling off, "Why does my room look like it was firebombed? And how did these mirrors get here?"

"Okay, I thought I was bad with rattling off the questions," Dawn said.

"Sorry," Valerie said. "One second I was summoning… I mean I was experimenting with…"

When Valerie paused to choose her words carefully, Dawn said, "Valerie, I'm Dawn Carter and I know that you were using witchcraft to summon a gaglore demon in order to kill it." Valerie gave Dawn a stunned look. "You attempted to gain the advantage over the demon by making it move ten times slower than normal, but your symbols were written in the wrong order and what you did was caused a time disturbance."

Valerie gave Dawn a confused look before asking, "I caused what?"

"You caused a time disturbance," Dawn repeated. "For the past few months the time within this house was out of phase with the world and was getting worse with each passing day."

"For the past few months?" Valerie questioned in disbelief. "I just did the spell a couple of minutes ago."

"I understand why you think that, Sweetie, but today's date is now April 13, 2013," Dawn said. "You did your spell around 12:00 A.M. on November 1, 2012."

"Oh, my god!" Valerie blurted out. "Please say that you're joking and that the day is not April 13, 2013."

"I'm not joking, sweetie," Dawn said as Willow and Leonard came rushing in.

Dawn and Valerie faced them as Willow asked, "Is everything okay up here?"

"No; I just found out that today is April 13 and…" Valerie stopped talking in mid-sentence as she looked around the room again. "Did my house catch fire?"

"It caught fire the night that you summoned the gaglore," Dawn said.

"And in case you're wondering, your parents now live five blocks from here," Willow added.

"I have so many questions that I want to ask, but first, what happened to the gaglore?" Valerie asked.

"I killed it," Willow said.

"How?" Valerie asked.

"Dawn and I will explain everything to you, but first we should leave," Willow said.

Valerie nodded while saying, "Okay." As she took a step, she kicked the gun.

When Valerie stopped to pick it up, Dawn said, "I'm not really tying to sound like my older sister, but guns are never helpful against demons."

Valerie tucked the gun away at the back of her pants as she asked, "How do you three know so much about demons? Like that demon that I summoned was a gaglore."

"I know nothing of demons except for what I saw here tonight," Leonard said as Willow's phone rang.

Willow answered her phone as Dawn said, "Willow and I are the demon experts."

Dawn was about to explain when she heard Willow saying, "Tabitha, calm down."

"I'll explain, but first I'm curious about this call," Dawn said. Valerie just nodded.

As everyone was leaving, Willow continued to tell Tabitha, "Yes the earthquake that you felt and your dream could be signs that the hell-mouth is growing to its former strength."

Valerie questioned underneath her breath, "Dreams?"

"There's nothing to worry about though," Willow continued to tell Tabitha. "Remember, Buffy lived on the hell-mouth for seven years so just remember what Buffy taught you and you'll be fine." An incoming second call had sounded. "Tabitha, hang on a minute." Willow flipped over to the second call. "Yes. I'm Willow Rosenberg." There was a pause before she spoke again. "Well, I'm two states away, so it will be a few hours before I can get there by plane… yes I understand. Bye." She then switched back to the other phone call. "Tabitha, that phone call was the New Sunnydale police department. The shop was slightly damaged from the Earthquake so I'll be returning to Sunnydale. We can talk more when I get there, so just go back to sleep and don't worry about the hell-mouth tonight… okay bye."

"What is a hell-mouth?" Valerie asked.

"It's a region of a mystical convergent point for demonic activity and mystical energy," Willow said as her cell phone rang again. Willow looked at the number. "Cat is calling."

"Your cat is calling?" Valerie asked. "Is that a mystical cat?"

Willow gave Valerie a slight annoyed look before saying, "Cat is the person's name." She then answered the phone. "Cat… oh hi, Buffy, what's up? Yeah, Tabitha just called me and she too had that dream. There was also an Earthquake in New Sunnydale…"

At Amanda's house, Buffy, Cat, Nichole and Amanda were noticing the breaking news about several Earthquakes around the world that had happened within seconds of each other. When Buffy saw the news about what happened in New Madrid, Missouri, she interrupted Willow while saying, "Will, the hell-mouth is not underneath New Sunnydale anymore… it relocated to Southeastern Missouri. I know this because I'm watching the news about how New Madrid was hit by a devastating Earthquake that had drastically increased its elevation. There were other Earthquakes too around the world at the same time and I think that the First Evil was just looking for a weak spot to reopen the hell-mouth… Will, the First Evil had never left."

Willow had told Buffy about how she needed to go to New Sunnydale to assess the damages to the shop in order to file a natural disaster claim and as she was exiting the house behind the others, she continued to tell Buffy, "Okay, as soon as we get done in New Sunnydale we'll be on the first plane to Washington D.C… Okay, bye."

When Valerie saw that Willow's phone call was over, she asked, "Okay who are you people and how do you know so much about demons?"

"My sister, Buffy, is a vampire slayer," Dawn said as everyone except for Leonard stopped just outside the house. Leonard continued walking to his men and ordered an immediate clean up of the area. "She became a slayer at fifteen and she's now thirty-two and you were once a potential slayer."

"Okay, what is a slayer… and a potential slayer?" Valerie asked.

"A slayer is the chosen one who fights against the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness," Dawn said. "A slayer is always a girl. Normally only one slayer is chosen at a time and her lifespan is usually three to four years long at the most. In fact my sister had died twice already; first at sixteen and again at twenty. She was given CPR the first time and the second time…"

"We were able to revive her both times," Willow interrupted with. Willow then telepathically told Dawn, "We don't need to scare Valerie by talking about resurrecting the dead."

Valerie gave Willow a confused look while questioning, "You resurrected the dead?"

In a shock manner, Willow questioned, "You can read my thoughts?"

"I heard those thoughts," Valerie said.

"Do you hear thoughts all the time?" Dawn nervously questioned.

"Well, most of the time I just hear murmurs from people," Valerie said. "Only sometimes… maybe one out of fifty people can I make out bits and pieces of what someone is thinking. But you, Willow, came through loud and clear."

"Perhaps, because she was telepathically talking to me," Dawn commented.

"Perhaps," Willow said.

"You two are able to telepathically talk to each other?" Valerie asked.

"I was hoping to ease you in to this, Valerie, but it appears that I won't be able to," Willow said. "I'm a witch. I'm the one who can telepathically talk to people."

"I'm no witch, but I do know a little witchcraft," Dawn said. "I'm the one who ended your time disturbance; which you know already."

"By you two knowing about witchcraft was how you knew what I was doing?" Valerie questioned.

"That's right," Willow said. "And we found out about the time disturbance a few of days ago when Buffy came looking for you."

"Buffy…" Valerie gestured towards Dawn as she continued to ask, "Her sister was looking for me?"

"Yes; she knew that you were once a potential slayer and wanted to recruit your help," Willow said.

"Now that's twice that I was refereed to as being once a potential slayer," Valerie began. "I'm no longer a potential slayer? Whatever it means to be a potential slayer."

"Well you still have the potential slayer ability, but only potential slayers between the ages of fifteen and twenty can be chosen to be slayers," Willow said.

"And the only way for a potential slayer to become a chosen slayer is when the current slayer dies," Dawn added.

"Well, I'm nineteen… or I was back in October 31st when I done the spell," Valerie said. "My birthday is on February 15th."

"Okay, I don't know for sure, but you still might be a potential slayer," Willow said.

Valerie thought for a second before asking, "Slayers and potential slayers are stronger than the average person aren't they?"

Willow grinned before saying, "They are. Normally a potential slayer is two to three times stronger than the average person while a chosen slayer is six to eight times stronger than the average person and slayers are always girls. Another ability that a potential slayer has are the dreams of past slayers."

"So my dreams of fighting demons were actually visions of past slayers?" Valerie asked.

Willow nodded while saying, "Yes."

"Well, that explains why I was being called by a different name in my dreams," Valerie said.

Willow grinned before saying, "Valerie, Buffy still wants to recruit your help."

"What exactly does she need my help for?" Valerie asked.

"A vampire had stolen a government device," Willow said. "I can't tell you what this device is until you sign a non-disclosure agreement first, but this device is very important to get back as quickly as possible. Buffy had recruited three potentials already."

Valerie thought for a moment before saying, "If my dreams are actually visions of past slayers then I know for a fact that I'm too weak to fight vampires."

Willow grinned before saying, "I'm a witch remember. I know of a spell that can bring out your slayer ability."

"So I would be an actual slayer?" Valerie asked.

"Well, to change you into a slayer, I will charm a cross necklace," Willow began. "As long as you wear that cross necklace, you will be a slayer."

"Cool," Valerie said.

"Does that 'cool' mean that you'll join us?" Dawn asked.

Valerie took a deep breath and pondered the idea for a brief moment before saying, "I'll join your group. But first I want to see my parents."

"Of course," Willow said. She then gestured towards Leonard. "We should talk to Leonard about using the van."

Valerie nodded before she, Willow and Dawn began walking. After taking a couple of steps, Valerie asked, "If Buffy died twice then there are actually more than one slayer, isn't there? And I'm not counting the potential slayers who are carrying charmed crosses."

Willow grinned while saying, "You're quick. When Buffy died the first time for those few minutes, Kendra was activated. Kendra died a year later and that activated Faith. Faith went rogue for a short time and ended up in prison. She busted out of prison to rejoin our side in a fight against a powerful evil that called itself the First Evil. When that threat was neutralized Faith turned herself in and while in prison for the second time she allowed herself to legally die for two minutes. This allowed a third full-blown to be activated."

"So there are only three full-blown slayers in the world?" Valerie asked.

"Actually there are five full-blown slayers," Willow said. "I can't really tell you about how the other two came about until you signed that non-disclosure agreement."

Valerie gave Willow a curious look before saying in a skeptical tone, "Okay." She then said in normal tone, "When I was researching my spells, I came across a resurrection spell, but that spell indicated that the person would come back as a zombie."

"Buffy is no zombie if that is what you were about to ask," Dawn said.

"Valerie, I know those types of spells that you are referring to and I had never used any of those particular spells," Willow said. "The spell that I used to bring Buffy back was from dark magic and most witches are afraid to even invoke such power."

"So you must be a powerful witch," Valerie said as they approached Leonard.

"Dangerously powerful; even to myself," Willow said.

"What do you mean?" Valerie said.

"I'll tell you in a second," Willow said as they stepped up to Leonard.

Leonard faced them while saying, "You three look as though you want something."

"We want the use of the van so Valerie can see her parents," Willow said.

Leonard looked around for a second. When he spotted who he was looking for, he yelled out, "Harrison."

Harrison stepped up while saying, "Yes Leonard."

"Drive these three to where they need to go," Leonard said.

"You got it," Harrison said. He then faced Willow, Dawn and Valerie. "Follow me."

As they were walking to the van, Valerie asked, "So, Willow, what did you mean by that you are dangerously powerful even to yourself?"

"Practicing magic can be additive like drugs," Willow began. "The more you use it, the more you want to use it. When we brought Buffy back after she died the second time, I was already on the road to abuse the magic…"

"Your girl friend broke up with you because of the…" Valerie said before she saw a slightly disturbed expression on Willow's face. "I'm sorry. I swear I'm not trying to ease drop on your thoughts; it's just that your thoughts are coming in very clear to me."

"What about mine?" Dawn asked as they were approaching the van.

Valerie concentrated on Dawn for a brief moment before saying, "Not so much."

"Good," Dawn said.

Valerie slightly grinned before facing Willow again while saying. "Anyway, please continue and I promise that I will do my best not to ease drop on your thoughts."

"I'll finish once we're in the van," Willow said. "Dawn, you can take the front seat and give Harrison the directions to the house."

"Fine," Dawn said as she went towards the front passenger seat.

Once everyone was comfortable in the van, Harrison drove away.

Willow began her story again, but this time she talked to where Valerie was the only one who could hear. "You're right, Valerie. Tara, my girlfriend, broke up with me because of the magic. But then I got help and I was doing good about staying away from it. Tara saw how good that I was doing about staying away and came back to me. A day after we got back together Tara was shot and killed by a stray bullet. Well, to make a long story short, I went on a revengeful spree with the magic and I'm not talking about with just the magic that I knew. I literally absorbed everything that contained magic. I became so powerful with the magic that I'm still considered the most powerful witch in the world and I got so far out of control that I was determined to destroy the world."

"You couldn't really destroy the world with your magic, could you?" Valerie worriedly asked.

"Valerie, by you being able to hear my thought, I think that I can pass images… possibly even memories to you," Willow said. "I'm going to attempt to do it so I can show you what I'm capable of."

"Okay," Valerie said. Willow then concentrated on passing her memory to Valerie. Valerie received that memory as a vision and she saw what Willow was doing before Xander talked her down. Along with the vision, Valerie felt Willow's driving emotion that led to that moment. When it was over, she couldn't help blurting out, "Oh my god!"

"I'm right there with you," Willow said as Harrison and Dawn glanced back for a second. "So if you ever see me hesitating to do a spell, it's not that I can't do it, it's that I don't want to get taken over by the evil Willow that lurks around those powerful spells."

"Well that rerun that I saw and felt of the evil Willow is all I want to see or feel of her," Valerie said.

"What do you mean felt?" Willow asked.

"As I was seeing that vision of your dark side, I also felt the fiery revengeful rage, the desolate existence of living your life without Tara and the complete absence of all hope for a better tomorrow," Valerie said. "I don't know if that was exactly what you felt back then…"

"That was remarkably close," Willow interrupted with. "And you're more than a telepath. I think you might be an empath."

"Well, back when I had friends, I knew what they were feeling even when I couldn't make out those murmurs that I heard," Valerie said. "So yeah, I had always considered myself as an empath and not too much of a telepath."

Willow grinned while saying "I know someone who will be calling you Deanna Troi."

"I was called that throughout my high school freshman year and I hated it." Willow was about ready to respond when Valerie continued to say, "Except it was better than what everyone, including my former friends, was calling me in my junior and senior year."

"You're now among friends who know and understand what you were going through," Willow said.

Valerie gave Willow a delightful grin before saying, "Thanks."

Willow grinned back while saying, "You're welcome."

"So, Willow, why didn't you resurrect Tara as you did with Buffy?" Valerie questioned.

"The magic that I used to bring Buffy back can only be use on someone who had died in a mystical manner," Willow explained.

"And Tara was shot," Valerie finished. "There's nothing mystical about that."

"Exactly," Willow said. "And speaking of what can happen from a gun, I would feel a lot more comfortable if you would dispose of that gun you have tucked away."

"I'll give it to my dad when I see him," Valerie said.

"Thank you," Willow said. "Oh and speaking of you seeing him, we're coming up to the house."

Valerie glanced out the window before asking, "Which house is it?"

Dawn heard Valerie and said as she pointed to the two-story house, "That one."

"My mom was eying that house back in September when it went up for sale," Valerie said.

Harrison parked in the driveway. When everyone climbed out of the van Dawn commented while checking her watch, "My watch might be off, but I have 2:45 A.M. Valerie, you're parents won't come at us with a shot gun for waking them up this early in the morning, will they?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect," Valerie said. "But I have to do this now though." She then took a deep breath before walking at a steady pace for the door.

Once everyone was at the door, Valerie rang the doorbell.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N I've been repeating the full-blown explanation to get the dialogue to flow a certain way and I'm thinking that this will be the last chapter for it. (The repeating explanations were beginning to bug me too and I'm the one writing it.) As for the flashing light in the previous chapter, Dawn caused the flashes when she cast the time traveling spell. It was two sets of two's. One flash as Dawn jumps into a particular time and the second flash (one to two minutes later after repeating the spell) she jumps out of the particular time. The evening set of flashes was Dawn moving backwards in time while the after midnight set of flashes was Dawn moving forward in time. **

Willow, Dawn, Valerie and Harrison waited at the door for six minutes before they heard a man's voice asking, "Who's there?"

"It's Valerie, Dad." There was a short delay before Valerie's dad Shayne opened the door. When Valerie saw her dad, she said nervously, "Hi, dad. I'm sorry to wake you up at this time in the morning, but… but I had to see you and mom. I had to explain… and… and I needed to know how furious you are with me right now."

Tears ran down Shayne's cheek as he said with a delightful grin, "I'm extremely furious with you, young lady." He then gave Valerie a long and passionate welcome home hug.

Valerie's mom Nashota walked up behind Shayne as he was giving Valerie a hug. When Nashota saw glimpses of strange people at the door, she asked, "Shayne, what's going on? Who are these people?" Shayne ended the hug and moved aside so Nashota could see her daughter. "Is it really you, Val? Or am I dreaming again?"

Valerie grinned while saying, "Mom, it's me. You're not dreaming."

Without hesitation, Nashota and Valerie hugged each other. Tears ran down their cheeks during the hug. After the long hug ended, Nashota quickly said, "Explain yourself, young lady. Where have you been?"

Valerie pointed to everyone while saying, "First meet Willow, Dawn and Harrison."

"Hi, Valerie's parents" Willow and Dawn said in unison.

"Nice to meet you two," Harrison said.

"Nice to meet all of you," Shayne and Nashota said.

"And please call me Nashota," she continued to say.

"And I'm Shayne," he said as he began to shake their hands one by one.

When the handshakes ended Nashota said, "Okay let's all go to the living room, so I can hear the story of my daughter's misadventures along with where she's been for the last five and a half months."

When everyone entered the foyer of the house, Shayne shut the door. During the walk to the living room, Valerie searched for the right words to say. It wasn't until she was walking into the living room when she began with, "Mom; Dad, I guess I should begin by saying that I'm sorry… really sorry for what happened and for what I put you two through. I'd never meant for what happened to happen."

"Well, why did you run away?" Shayne asked. No one attempted to sit down on the couch or on one of the three chairs.

"It's not even like you to run away," Nashota added.

"I didn't run away." Valerie said. "Strangely I was in the house the entire time… at least I think I was."

"Well, a minute of each day you were," Dawn added.

"What are you talking about?" Shayne asked.

"Valerie, can I explain things to your parents?" Willow asked.

"I welcome all the help I can get with the explanation," Valerie said.

Willow grinned while saying, "Shayne; Nashota, you two had most likely heard about the quarantine at your old house."

"We heard that the neighborhood was sectioned off for about two square blocks because of a dangerous gas leak," Nashota said.

"Well, that was actually what the government wanted everyone to believe…" Willow said.

"Ms. Rosenberg… Willow, what you're about to reveal is classified," Harrison said.

"What happened involved their daughter so they need to know the truth," Willow quickly spouted back.

"Well, if you continue I will have no choice, but to include everything that you say in my report," Harrison said.

"You do that," Willow said in tone of being annoyed. Harrison just took a seat on one of the chairs and just listened. "Anyway, Shayne; Nashota, on Halloween night around midnight, your daughter had cast a spell."

"The police found a note in her handwriting about how she had been reading books on witchcraft and demons, so we are aware of the nonsense that our daughter was doing that night," Shayne said.

"Dad, it wasn't nonsense," Valerie said.

"You thought that you could summon a demon; a fictional beast," Nashota said. "So how was that not nonsense?"

"It wasn't fictional," Valerie said. "Mom, I did it. I summoned it."

"The beasts in your dreams were only manifestation of your subconscious, Val," Nashota said.

"That's just it, mom, my dreams weren't dreams; they were visions of past slayers," Valerie quickly said.

"What do you mean by visions of past slayers?" Shayne questioned.

"I'm a potential-slayer, Dad," Valerie said.

"Okay, conversation is running away here," Willow said. Shayne and Nashota gave Willow a curious look. "This was not the order that I wanted to explain this, but yes, your daughter is a potential-slayer."

"What is a potential-slayer?" Nashota asked.

"The short response is, a potential-slayer is a slayer in waiting, and a slayer is a chosen one who fights against vampires, demons and the forces of darkness," Willow said.

"Vampires and demons aren't real," Nashota insisted.

"Vampires and demons are very real," Dawn said. "We can prove it too if necessary."

"Okay, going with the assumption that vampires and demons are real, you're telling me that a potential-slayer will dream of a slayer's battle against these vampires and demons?" Shayne questioned.

"A potential slayer and even the slayer herself can dream of any past slayer," Willow said. "Those dreams are to prepare the potential-slayers of what is to come, so when a potential-slayer is chosen, she will have knowledge of how to fight a demon.

"Val, when you told me your dreams, you made out that it was you who was fighting and not someone else," Shayne pointed out.

Before Valerie had a chance to answer, Willow said, "That's actually a common mistake that most potential-slayers make. When a potential-slayer dreams of past slayers, she actually sees herself as the one who's doing the fighting."

"So if what you are telling us is true, when does Valerie get chosen as a slayer?" Nashota asked.

"Well, not every potential-slayer is chosen to become a slayer," Willow said.

"Even though that's somewhat of good news to hear, why don't all potential-slayers become slayers?" Nashota asked. "I'm mean, according to what you said, all of them are being prepared for it."

"Well, normally there would be only one slayer at a time and the mystical forces or Powers That Be that it is sometimes called, randomly choose a potential-slayer to become the slayer on the instant death of the current slayer," Willow said. "However, that one-slayer deal kind of goes off track during a momentary death of a slayer. It does follow a rule though. Only the slayer's initial death can activate another slayer. A second death of the same slayer won't."

"So if there are a lot of potential-slayers in the world, then there's a good chance that Valerie won't be chosen as the slayer at all," Nashota said with a relief tone in her voice.

"At her age, it is very unlikely that she will become the chosen slayer," Willow said.

"What do you mean at her age?" Shayne questioned. "She's not even twenty-one yet."

"Girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty can only become a chosen slayer," Willow said.

"That's quite young," Shayne said.

"It is," Willow agreed. "However, that's how it works."

"How do you know all this?" Nashota questioned.

"Seventeen years ago, my sister became the chosen slayer at the age of fifteen," Dawn said.

"I get the strong feeling that a slayer's life is short," Shayne commented.

"Most slayers die within three to four years after being chosen," Willow said.

"So your sister is dead?" Nashota questioned.

"Actually, Buffy… my sister is still alive and she is the longest living slayer whoever lived," Dawn said. "However, she did die twice and was revived both times. That's how we know that the one-slayer deal can be manipulated."

"This is all interesting," Shayne said.

"Anyway, getting back on the topic of Valerie summoning a demon," Willow began. "She did summon a demon. In fact it was a gaglore that she summoned..."

"There were no signs of struggle of any kind," Shayne pointed out.

"Yeah, I kind of screwed up the spell and caused a time disturbance," Valerie said.

"What?" Nashota questioned.

"Valerie wrote out her symbols in the wrong order," Willow said. "She attempted to make the gaglore move ten times slower in order to gain the advantage over it, but what she did was caused everything within the circle to move ten times slower than everything on the outside of the circle and after five months of moving at a slower pace, that time disturbance grew to include the entire house."

"Is that why there were flashes of light at certain times up in Valerie's old room," Shayne asked.

"Actually that was me," Dawn said.

"How was that you?" Nashota asked.

"Well first you should know that Buffy, my sister, actually came looking for Valerie a few nights ago and discovered the time disturbance," Dawn began. "In fact it was the same night when the quarantine crew showed up. Anyway, after a brief investigation, we realized what Valerie was doing. We also knew that Valerie didn't stand a chance against the gaglore…"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Valerie interrupted with.

"Well, you do lack the chosen slayer strength and at the time the demon that you were summoning was unknown to us and I suspect to you as well," Dawn said. "So knowing how to kill it was a complete mystery."

"Okay, point taken," Valerie said.

"Please continue, Dawn," Nashota said.

"Anyway, Willow had recently come up with a spell that would take someone into the past by twenty-four hour increments. So to save Valerie I went back into the past on the night that Valerie summoned the gaglore and then I brought her and unfortunately the gaglore to my present while using a reversal incantation. So the flashes that everyone was seeing were me casting the time traveling spell and we just returned to the present a few minutes before we rang your doorbell."

"In case you're wondering the gaglore is dead," Willow added. "I blew it up with a spell."

Nashota gave Willow a curious look as Shayne questioned, "So what I'm hearing is that less than an hour ago for Valerie, the date was actually October 31?"

"Exactly," Valerie was the one to say. "So you see I didn't run away."

Shayne gave Valerie a hug followed by a kiss on the forehead. Valerie just responded with a grin.

"Willow, you seem to know a lot of spells," Nashota commented.

"Yeah, well, I'm a witch," Willow said. "Doing magic and helping Buffy to fight demons is what I do."

"You're a witch?" Nashota mocked in a skeptical tone.

"I know how all this sound, but everything we told you is true," Dawn was the one to say.

"Strangely enough, I actually believe you," Nashota said.

"Why was Buffy looking for Valerie?" Shayne asked.

"Buffy was recruiting a small group of potential-slayers over the age of nineteen to go after a particular vampire," Willow said. "Valerie was one of the possible candidates."

"According to what Dawn said earlier, Valerie lacks the slayer's strength," Nashota pointed out.

"For now, but I know a spell that can bring out her slayer's strength," Willow said. "It's perfectly safe and I have charmed more than fifty potential-slayers within the last ten years."

"Listening to Valerie talk about her dreams during the past five years and now finding out that those dreams were real, I know that fighting demons is much like war," Shayne began. "So I have to asked, how many of those fifty plus potential-slayers are still alive after ten years?"

"I'll admit that there are about twenty of them left," Willow said. "The older ones who are left are either retired as slayers or became watchers while the younger ones still patrol certain areas of high demonic activities."

"The latest three, Nichole, Amber and Cat are with Buffy in Washington, D.C.," Dawn added.

"Their survival rate is about thirty-three percent though?" Shayne questioned.

"Plus or minus a few percentage points," Willow said.

"Dad, I would've been killed last Halloween if they chose to end the time disturbance without retrieving me from the past," Valerie said. "I owe them my life and they still want me on their team."

"Is this really something that you want to do, Val?" Shayne asked.

Valerie gave her dad a delightful grin before saying, "It is."

"Then you have my blessing," Shayne said.

"Shayne!" Nashota exclaimed.

"Valerie has been at war against the demons since she was sixteen," Shayne began. "The only reason that she didn't scurry off to the battlefield is because she didn't know where the battlefield was. Now that she knows how to find it, asking her not to go would be just as wrong as clipping an eagle's wing."

"Well, when the eagle is Valerie, I have no problems with clipping her wing to keep her safe," Nashota said. "You know, Valerie, you might be able to get your job back at 'The Rare Books' Source' bookstore."

"Mom, I only took a job there because they stocked a large number of books on witchcraft and demons," Valerie said.

"Hey, I've done business with, "The Rare Books' Source," bookstore before over the phone," Willow said. Nashota gave her an unpleasant look. "Which has absolutely nothing to do with what we're discussing."

Valerie slightly grinned before she continued to say, "Mom, I don't belong here, I belong with Willow, Dawn and Buffy. With them I'm won't be seen as a freak."

"You're not a freak," Nashota quickly said.

"You and I know that, but to everyone else in this city I am a freak and I will always be a freak to them," Valerie said. "Mom, I'll be miserable if I stay here, so please give me your blessing."

Nashota sighed before saying, "You got my blessing." Valerie gave her mother a hug. "Just please call me each day so I know you're safe."

Valerie broke the hug before saying, "I will."

"When will you be leaving?" Nashota asked.

"We need to leave at soon as possible," Willow said.

"Will you be joining Buffy in Washington, D.C?" Shayne asked.

"Eventually, but first I have a natural disaster insurance claim to file in New Sunnydale, California," Willow said.

"Something happened in New Sunnydale?" Shayne questioned.

"A few minutes before we got here, there was an Earthquake that hit Sunnydale and the Los Angeles area," Willow said. "Buffy and I actually own a bookstore in New Sunnydale and I received a phone call from the New Sunnydale police department about it being damaged during the quake."

"Okay, well how about a hug before you head off to California," Nashota said.

Valerie smiled before giving her mom a slightly long hug. Harrison stood up. When the hug between Valerie and Nashota finally ended, they gave each other a kiss on the cheek. Valerie then gave her dad a hug and a kiss on the cheek as well.

When all the kisses and hugs were done, Willow cleared her throat before asking, "Valerie, don't you have something for your dad before we leave?"

Valerie gave Willow a confused look while asking, "Like what?"

"The gun," Willow telepathically told her

Valerie nervously laughed before saying, "Oh yeah, I forgot that part."

"Val, what's going on?" Shayne asked.

"Dad, last September I bought something from this guy name Blackie and…" Valerie was only able to get out.

"Blackie? The punk that sells questionable goods from his van?" Shayne questioned in a serious tone.

"You heard of him," Valerie commented in a nervous tone.

"He specializes in…" It dawned on Shayne of what Valerie had bought from Blackie. "You bought a gun from Blackie. You bought a gun to shoot the demon on Halloween night."

"Well, I didn't know that guns were useless against the demon," Valerie said.

"Typically demon fighting is purely a slice 'em and dice 'em gig so guns are pretty much useless against them," Dawn said.

"A gun wasn't found after the fire, so I'm thinking that you still have it," Shayne said.

Valerie pulled out the gun and handed it to her dad. When Shayne didn't say anything when he took the gun, Valerie asked, "No lectures this time?"

Shayne slightly grinned before saying, "Something tells me that you learn this lesson the hard way. So no; no lectures."

"Val, promise me, no more guns," Nashota said.

"I won't need anymore guns, Willow is going to teach me magic," Valerie said while giving Willow a dubious glance.

Willow gave Valerie a surprise look while saying, "Nothing was said about me teaching you magic."

"Yeah, I was going to ask you to teach me after we left here," Valerie said.

"You know how I can get with the dark magic," Willow said.

Shayne and Nashota showed confused expressions as Valerie said, "Knowing your limits is why I want you as my teacher and I am going to continue learning it, even if I have to do it on my own. In fact I've been studying witchcraft on my own since I started working at 'The Rare Books' Source' bookstore at the age of sixteen. I even know a few spells and I just figured that it would be safer with a teacher… with you as my teacher."

"If I take you on as a student, you must listen to me," Willow firmly stated.

Valerie grinned before saying, "Of course."

"If you do any spells without my knowledge or without my okay then this arrangement is over," Willow again firmly stated.

"I'll obey your rules," Valerie assured her.

"Good," Willow said.

"Val, I can see that your mind is made up about continuing with the witchcraft," Nashota began. "I was hoping that it was just a teenaged fad of yours, but I see now that it's not. You're serious about it and I hate that you're serious about it. I accept it though. So please promise me that you'll be safe and don't do anything foolish."

Valerie smiled and as she gave her mom another hug, she said, "I promise, Mom."

After the hug ended everyone said his or her goodbyes. Willow, Dawn, Valerie and Harrison left the house. Once Shayne relocked the door, Nashota told him, "I'm fixing breakfast. Do you want eggs and bacon?"

"It's about three in the morning and you're making breakfast now?" Shayne questioned.

"Well, I'm wide awake and slightly hungry," Nashota said. "So do you want me to fix you something too?"

"Sure," Shayne said just before he followed Nashota into the kitchen.

"Outside, everyone was getting comfortable in the van when Willow questioned, "So, Valerie, what spells do you know and have done?" Harrison drove away while Valerie listed the ten spell books that she read from cover to cover. "Okay, four of those books are books on dark magic.

"I think I know which four you're referring to too," Valerie said.

Willow slightly grinned before asking, "So what spells have you done?"

"Well, you know about the one last Halloween," Valerie began. Willow just nodded. "I did a locator spell just to see if I can do it and I did. I tried a ghost-summoning spell too, but it didn't work. Or at least I don't think it did."

"Why were you summoning a ghost?" Willow asked.

"The ghost that I was summoning was my ex-boyfriend Tommy," Valerie said. "He died two days after he broke up with me in an unusual accident. I was being accused of putting a hex on him and I wanted to know what really happened."

"How did he die?" Willow asked.

"Except for it being a freak accident, no one would tell me," Valerie said. "I wasn't even allowed to go to the funeral. That's why I was attempting to summon his ghost."

"Any other spells that you did?" Willow asked.

"I know I shouldn't have, but I got tired of this one asshole jock being cruel to everyone who wasn't one of the popular kids, so I put a spell on him," Valerie said.

"What kind of spell?" Willow asked.

"Each time he begins to be cruel to someone he instantly loses the memory as to why he was being cruel to that person in the first place," Valerie said. "That spell worked too. I witnessed that person not remembering as to why that he was even talking to the person who he was being cruel to."

"Memory spells isn't anything to be messing with and it can be harmful," Willow said.

"Yeah, I found that out when the guy woke up a week later while not remembering the past four years of his life," Valerie admitted. "I reversed the spell immediately. In fact, Tommy walked in on me while I was reversing the spell and broke up with me right then and there."

"So what other spells did you do?" Willow asked.

"Well, I was trying to find out why I was getting my nightmares and I cast a spell on myself," Valerie said. "It didn't work, but I did get a strange dream of a girl… I think she was an African girl. She had a white painted face. Anyway she was chained up while three men were… well, to me it look like that she was being turned into a demon."

Willow grinned while saying, "Valerie, your spell worked like a charm."

"You know what that dream meant, don't you?" Valerie asked.

"You dreamed of the First Slayer being created," Willow said. "Those three men were called the Shadow men. The Shadow men endowed the girl with the slayer powers to destroy the demons."

"Wow, all this time I thought my spell had went wacky," Valerie said.

"So what other spells have you done?" Willow asked.

"That's it, actually," Valerie said.

"You never attempted any levitation spells?" Willow questioned. "Like floating pencils or other objects?"

"I didn't see the usefulness of floating a pencil so I skip that section," Valerie said.

"Well, the lesson of floating pencils is meant to sharpen your focusing skills and if you want me to teach your magic, I want you to sharpen that skill," Willow said.

"You're the teacher, so if you want me to learn to float pencils then I will learn it," Valerie said.

"Good," Willow said.

In Washington, D.C., thirty minutes after sunrise, Amanda was allowing Jack into her home. Buffy, Cat and Nichole were sitting on the couch when he walked into the living room. Buffy stood up while saying, "Quincy was a no show…"

"You haven't stepped outside lately, have you?" Jack questioned.

Buffy gave Jack a curious look before she walked passed Jack and exited the door. Cat, Nichole and Amanda followed Buffy outside. Jack casually trailed everyone and once outside everyone saw written on the wall of the house, "Mandy, Mandy, Mandy. She and her sidekicks can't be with you every night. Until then relish each minute as if it is your last."

"Oh, god," Amanda blurted out. "He's planning to kill me when he catches me alone."

"Amanda, we'll be back before sunset to perform the spell that revokes the vampire's invitation," Buffy said.

"But I still become a prisoner in my own home at night," Amanda said.

"Amanda, we'll give you our cell phone numbers so when Quincy comes around, you are to call us and we'll come to your aid," Buffy said.

"Couldn't you just hangout with me at night?" Amanda questioned.

"Quincy recognizes one of our scents otherwise our presence wouldn't have mattered to him, so hanging out here at night won't stop Quincy once and for all," Buffy said. "Our best chance to stop Quincy is to lure him in and the only way to do that is for you to call us when he shows up."

"In simpler words, I'm bait," Amanda said.

"In a few hours from now, he won't be able to get inside your house without another invite from you and we will just be a phone call away," Buffy said.

Amanda hesitated for a moment before nodding. When Cat saw that Amanda agreed to it, she asked, "Quincy recognized either Nichole's or my scent from last night, didn't he?"

"The day before you joined us, Cat, the group and I went to a demon bar," Buffy said. "There were a few vampires there and one of them could've easily had been Quincy, so it might've been my scent that tipped him off. Anyway, Cat, scroll through you phonebook on your phone and give Amanda, all the phone numbers for us. I would do it, but I left my phone at headquarters."

"My purse is in the house," Cat said

"I need to get a pencil and paper anyway," Amanda said before stepping towards the door. Everyone followed Amanda back into the house.

Once Amanda had written down the numbers, Buffy and her group said their goodbyes and left. However, instead of them returning to TEC headquarters, they stopped off at a restaurant for breakfast. When they did return to TEC headquarters an hour later, Buffy went straight to the showers. Nichole and Cat went to the gym to work out.

Buffy took her time while taking a shower and after she was done and dressed, she went to find Giles. She went to the office first and as she was walking in, Giles was talking to Faith on speakerphone.

Faith was about to hang up, when Buffy quickly said, "Faith, wait."

"B, is that you?" Faith asked.

"It is and I need a favor from you," Buffy said.

"It seems to be favors all the way around," Faith asked.

When Giles saw a confused look on Buffy's face, he said, "Faith is going to check up on someone for me."

"So what's the favor, B," Faith asked.

"I need a complete history on Wolfram & Hart in this dimension," Buffy said.

"Can I ask, why?" Faith asked as she heard a series of rapid and desperate sounding knocks on the door. "Hold on a minute, B."

"No problem," Buffy said.

Faith looked at her watch and as she walked towards the door, she said, "It's going to be one of those mornings."

Faith unlocked the door and once the door was opened, she saw Alexis Wilson breathing slightly hard. Alex was the first to speak, "Can I come in?"

"Alexis, right?" Faith asked. Alexis just vigorously nodded. "Alexis, we don't open for a few more hours. And it's still god awfully early in the morning so why aren't you home in bed?"

"The short answer is, I stormed out of the house last night after a fight with my mom," Alexis said. "I'm not ready to go home yet and face her. And I don't want to be on the streets with… well, I just don't want to be on the streets."

Faith gave her a curious look before saying, "Come in."

"Thanks," Alexis said. Faith relocked the door once she was in.

As Faith was walking towards the phone, she said, "I'm actually in a middle of a phone call and once I'm done, you and I will have a chat."

"Chat about what?" Alexis said.

"We'll play that by ear," Faith said as she stepped up to the phone. Alexis gave Faith a curious look as Faith put the phone to her ear. "Okay, B. I think that you were about to tell me why you want the history on Wolfram & Hart."

"I had a rough encounter with Wolfram & Hart on a mission to stop one of Dr. Briers' minions and I would like to know when I can expect other encounters," Buffy said.

"I understand and I'll do what I can for you," Faith said.

"Thanks, Faith," Buffy said.

"Well, I'll talk to everyone later," Faith said. "Bye."

"Bye," Buffy and Giles said almost together.

When the called ended, Buffy said, "Okay, well, I need to type up a report for Capt. Matuzek." Buffy then walked towards the computer. "Oh, Tabitha, Willow and I had a vision about the hell-mouth reopening."

"Faith, Kennedy and Amber did too," Giles said. "I put in a call to the witches council about it. I should hear back from them in a few hours."

"Great," Buffy said as she sat down at the computer. The computer was already on.

"Oh and you should know that Amber's brother is delighted to have partners."

"That's also great," Buffy said.

"He has a location picked out and he wants us to look at with him around ten this morning."

"Sounds good," Buffy said before clicking on the document program.

In Los Angeles, when Faith hung up the phone, she saw Alexis pondering over a thought. Faith then commented, "You look troubled."

"I'm not," Alexis defensively said.

"You're definitely not five by five," Faith said. Alexis just gave her a confused look. "I'll listen if you want to share what you are pondering over."

"You mentioned Wolfram & Hart," Alexis said. "I was wondering how they would be thriving one day and then went out of business the next day."

"You know about Wolfram & Hart?" Faith questioned.

Alexis nodded while saying, "My mom worked at Wolfram & Hart. That's were she met my dad. When I was eight I overheard my mom telling someone on the phone about how Wolfram & Hart was shut down. I was supposed to have been in bed asleep. My mom then began telling whoever she was talking to as to how the senior partners had released their army of demons, but was still driven out of this dimension. For the longest time I thought that I had dreamed that conversation, but after hearing about how my dad and I are demons, I know that I didn't. And now I'm really curious about what happened."

"Angel, my boss, is what happened to them," Faith said.

Alexis slightly grinned before asking, "Will you tell me about it?"

Faith grinned before gesturing to a round table with four chairs while saying, "Let's go sit down."

Alexis nodded. They walked over to the table and once they sat down, Alexis asked, "Were the senior partners at Wolfram & Hart demons?"

Faith slightly grinned before saying, "They were." She then continued with what she knew of the several months leading up to the day of when Wolfram & Hart was closed down.

When Faith reached the point of the story of when Angel, Gunn, Illyria and Spike were charging the army, Alexis blurted out, "Oh my god! How on earth did they survive those overwhelming odds?"

"Well, the part I left out until now is that I'm a slayer," Faith said. "Slayers have super strength and kill evil demons. I and another slayer named Buffy were given a warning about an apocalypse rising in Los Angeles that needed our immediate attention. The warning came three months before it happened. Since Buffy, Buffy's charm slayers and I were only twelve, Buffy wanted to increase our army…"

"What are charmed slayers?" Alexis interrupted with.

"Charmed slayers are potential-slayers with their ability temporarily awaken by charmed jewelry," Faith answered as she saw another questioned forming on Alexis' lips. "And before you ask, potential-slayers are inactive slayers with dormant slayer abilities." Alexis just grinned." Only potentials between the ages of fifteen and twenty can be chosen as an active slayer by the Powers That Be. And don't ask for an explanation for the Powers That Be because I'm not clear about them myself. All I know is that Powers That Be fights on the side of good"

Alexis gave Faith the thumbs up sign while saying, "Got it."

"Anyway to increase our numbers, a witch named Willow used a locator spell and located where the potential-slayers were throughout the world. Most of them were over the age of twenty and in Europe. So Buffy and I went from town to town and from country to country recruiting potentials. In those few months, we recruited about twenty-two of them…"

"So the army was raised to thirty-four," Alexis commented.

"Well, actually because of Angel being involved Buffy decided to sit out of this fight."

"Why?"

"Well, seven years prior to the event in questioned, Buffy and Angel were a couple and all of us slayers and charmed slayers were actually on the understanding, that Angel was playing for the side of evil."

"Because of him working for Wolfram & Hart during Wolfram & Hart's final year," Alexis commented.

"Exactly. You see, Buffy knows her weaknesses and Angel is on the very top of that list. And because of the possibility that we would have to kill Angel, Buffy gave me complete command with the orders to kill Angel. Well, we got in positioned around Wolfram & Hart within twenty minutes to spare. Our final numbers were thirty-two charmed slayers plus me, the lead slayer; nine witches with Willow being the lead witch, ten mercenary demons with various of abilities and thirty humans with a guy named Robin Woods leading that charge. We were about to fire on Angel first to take him out, but Willow saw that Angel was about to pull a Gen. Custer by attacking Wolfram & Hart's demons head on. After seeing who side Angel was actually fighting for, we opened fire on Wolfram & Hart's demons…" Faith continued the story with a blow-by-blow description of the battle.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N My version of what might have happened after the series' cliffhanger finale of Angel. I was hoping to get more of a blow-by-blow description than what I did. In case I can come up with a better blow-by-blow description of the battle between Angel's group and Wolfram & Hart, I'm leaving it as a standalone chapter in order to update later. **

**In fact if anyone has suggestions on how to add to or improve this chapter feel free to pass me an email. I set the stage with Faith, 32 charmed slayers, Willow, 8 more witches, 10 mercenary demons with various of abilities (The type of abilities are not mentioned), Robin Woods and 29 other humans (Civilians)**

**(This chapter begins when Angel's 'Not Fade Away' ends)**

A fifteen-year-old clairvoyant named Gabrielle MacLeod was the psychic who had warned Buffy and Faith about the L.A. apocalypse when their paths had crossed at a restaurant two blocks from the new Watcher's headquarters in London. Gabrielle had been getting the prophecy dreams each night for several weeks prior to meeting Buffy and Faith, and each time she would wake up in a panic at the point of when Wolfram & Hart's demons would emerge from the other dimension with Angel standing in front of the vortex. For several weeks, Gabrielle knew everything about the coming apocalypse that was yet to happen; except for what actions that will lead up to the event and who to give the warning to who wouldn't think that she was crazy. The day when Gabrielle came face to face with Buffy and Faith, she couldn't help her giddy behavior and the smile that she held as she told the two slayers of her dream.

On the night of the apocalypse, just after Willow had realized that Angel was fighting for The Powers That Be, five of the witches combined their essence and put up a force field that kept the thousands of demons separated from Angel, Gunn, Illyria and Spike. As Wolfram & Hart's lead demons, Angel, Gunn, Illyria and Spike hit the force field and bounced back in their respective directions, Willow and the remaining three witches combined their essence and turned the force field into a huge fireball that shot through the demons' ranks with the intensity of a solar flare. The one-shot spell that had left the nine witches magically drained had drastically reduced the demon count to a hundred and thirty-five land-demons, one dragon and five flying demons. The buildings and cars that stood in the fireball's path had burst in a fiery blaze with all of the cars and a few of the buildings exploding.

The Wolfram & Hart's demons were severely disoriented from Willow's volley and before they could recover, Faith, while carrying the scythe, led the thirty-two charmed slayers and the ten mercenary demons in a head on charge against the hundred and thirty-five demons.

Angel, Gunn, Illyria, and Spike were also disoriented and were stunned when Faith and her group ran passed them. After quickly realizing at what had happened, the four got back on their feet to join the fight.

Robin and eleven from his group were armed with crossbows, regular bows and heavy assault weapons. They were on the rooftops while targeting the dragon and the five flying demons. The remaining eighteen from Robin's group were armed with swords, mace, chains, spears and clubs and they went at the land-demons on both flanks.

It took three minutes for Wolfram & Hart's demons to recover from the initial volley and during those minutes, forty of the demons were killed. Sixteen of the forty were killed by Faith with the scythe.

As the demons finally fought back, there numbers dwindled equally with Faith's group. The battle was fierce as the carnage increased by a random rate of three to ten bodies per minute.

The dragon and the remaining three flying demons had killed eight of the ones on the rooftops in less than three minutes, but before the demons were able to finish off the entire group, Willow and two other witches had recovered from their fireball spell. As the dragon was diving on the group to finish them off, Willow and the two witches combined their essences again and drew a strong lightning bolt from the sky and onto the dragon. The dragon exploded while showering Robin and another person with entrails and dragon parts. Willow and the two witches then went after the three flying demons the same way, but hitting them with a lightning bolt was more of a challenge. It wasn't until two more witches recovered from the fireball spell and combined their essences with them before they were able to hit their target. Once the flying demons were taking care off, Willow and her group began focusing on Wolfram & Hart's land-demons.

The battle had gone on for seven minutes when seven of the nine witches had recombined their essences. Wolfram & Hart's demons were now dwindling twice as fast as Faith's group. Three policemen had even showed up and joined the fight; however, their efforts proved useless as the demons weren't phased by police-issued guns.

After eight minutes of fierce fighting, Faith's group were reduced to Faith, eleven charmed slayers, Robin, three of Robin's men, Willow, the eight witches, two mercenary demons, Angel, Gunn, Illyria, Spike and the three policemen. All of them had injuries to a varying degree.

Wolfram & Hart's demons were reduced to eighteen demons, and before another body to either side could be added to the carnage, the Wolfram & Hart's senior partners and The Powers That Be entered the scene in a loud clatter. In a split second of their arrival the battle was abruptly halted when a low intensity lightning bolt had hit all who were involved.

Everyone in the battle was thrown back a few feet before hitting the ground hard. As they moved quickly to get back on their feet, The Powers That Be spoke the words, "Wolf, Ram, Hart; you're defeated. You are to leave this dimension at once."

"This isn't the last that this dimension will hear of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart," one of the senior partners said before the senior partners and their eighteen surviving demons vanished in shimmering light.

"We'll, be ready for your return," Gunn said just after they vanished.

The three policemen were in an awe of the sight and everyone was gathering closer to The Powers That Be, Spike questioned, "So was this the fight that restores me to human?"

"Get serious, Spike," Angel said.

"Hey, the prophecy could've been about me, you know," Spike spouted at Angel. Angel just gave Spike an annoyed look. "I am a vampire with a soul too. Or have you bloody forgotten that? Again?"

"Let's settle this once and for all." Angel then asked The Powers That Be, "Which one of us was the prophecy about?"

"The prophecy had always been about Spike," The Powers That Be said.

"Him?" Angel quickly asked while gesturing to Spike. "You can't be serious?"

"Angel, you are only fighting for us because of that gypsy's curse," The Powers That Be answered. "Remove that curse and you have absolutely no humanity and no remorse. The Judge had shown us that when he couldn't burn you while you were Angelus a few years ago; however, Spike fought on the slayer's side and sought redemption even before he sought after his soul."

"The only thing that Spike sought was the love of the slayer," Angel said.

"True, that was what motivated his redemption, but tell me Angel, what would've motivated Angelus to seek redemption?" The Powers That Be questioned. "And answer truthfully."

"Nothing," Angel honestly said. "You must've known all this time that the prophecy wasn't referring to me, so why didn't you tell me the truth from the beginning?"

"If we would've told you then you wouldn't have fought for us as hard as you did," The Powers That Be said.

"Perhaps initially I wouldn't have, but during the last two years, I would have," Angel said. "These last two years I cared more about taking down Wolfram & Hart than becoming human again. Spike though? Capt. Peroxide gets to become human again over me? That's just simply wrong."

"Says Capt. Forehead," Spike spouted back.

"Spike has proven himself in two separate apocalypses," The Powers That Be said. "Of course as a champion you have proven yourself time and time again and I would love to reward you for it, but presently I have nothing to reward you with. Please except our everlasting gratitude though."

"Gratitude?" Angel mumbled. "Spike gets to become human again and all I get is your gratitude."

"I understand your bitterness, Angel, but be patient," The powers That Be said. "Perhaps sometime in the future I will be able to give you a reward."

"Well, I won't be holding my breath… and of course I'm speaking figuratively since I don't breathe," Angel said.

The Powers That Be ignored Angel's latest comment and turned towards Illyria and said, "Illyria, by you fighting on the side of good and risking everything, you have proven yourself worthy. We would like to offer you a place with us and to become part of The Powers That Be. You won't be a god as you once were, but you'll be part of a great powerful force."

Illyria glanced at Angel for only a moment before saying, "I accept your offer."

"Excellent," The Powers That Be said. He then turned towards Angel. "Once again, Angel, we are grateful for what you have done. We are grateful to all of you. Enjoy the blissful calm while you can." The Powers That Be, Illyria, the slain bodies and all signs of a demonic battle suddenly disappeared from sight.

Spike felt his heartbeat for the first time since he was sired. As he held his hand to his chest, he blurted out with a delightful laugh, "I'm human. Everyone I'm alive."

"They hate me," Angel said as he was walking away from Spike. "The Powers That Be hate me. After five years of fighting for them, all I get is a simple thanks while Capt. Peroxide is now human."

Faith was about to catch up to Angel when one of the policemen stopped her and said while his hand rested on his holstered gun, "Hey, you're Faith Lehane; the escape convict."

Faith saw where the policeman's hand was and said, "I am and you won't need to draw you gun. I won't resist arrest. In fact, after what we went through tonight, I could use a long vacation even if it is in the penitentiary." Faith handed the scythe to the closest charmed slayer next to her while saying, "Return this to Buffy." The charmed slayer just nodded. While Faith was being handcuffed she gave instructions to the charmed slayers.

The disaster response team was rolling up in their vehicles when Faith was being put into the back seat of a squad car.

In The Powers That Be's realm, Illyria asked the others, "Are you sure that there's no reward for Angel?"

"There is and he's been rewarded," one of them said.

"In what way?" Illyria asked.

"His soul is more permanent now. Angel will never lose his soul again with a moment of pure happiness."

"Why didn't you tell Angel that?" Illyria questioned.

"Because there's a particular slayer who can't find out about it… not yet anyway."

"So Angel will never loose his soul again?" Illyria questioned.

"Well, he can lose it through dark magic, but as far as the gypsy's curse we removed it without him losing his soul. Perhaps in another twenty years, we'll tell Angel about his reward."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 24 was posted at the same time this chapter was. **

**A/N I had an idea for a crossover with a slayer and Painkiller Jane. Instead of writing another story I decided to include it as a chapter of this story and like with Buffy, Angel, TimeCop and Supernatural I do not own nor do I have claims to Painkiller Jane. (Most likely this will be the only chapter that Painkiller Jane's characters will show up in the story.)**

From beginning to end it took Faith an hour to tell Alexis about how Wolfram & Hart was defeated. She ended the story by saying, "Spike was the vampire with the soul who was made human after the fight."

"That was an awesome story, but I bet Angel was furious that Spike was the vampire to become human in the end," Alexis commented.

"Angel definitely wasn't happy about it at first, but after a couple of weeks of brooding, even he said it was for the best," Faith said.

"Was there a reason that the Powers That Be chose Spike over Angel?" Alexis asked.

"Both Spike and Angel were viscous vampires back in their days, but when it came down to it, Spike changed himself to be good. The only reason that Angel is good is because of the gypsy's curse."

"So the Powers That Be saw Angel's redemption as not being truly genuine because he was cursed to feel remorse," Alexis said almost as a questioned.

"Exactly," Faith said.

"So did you teamed up with Angel right after the defeat of Wolfram & Hart?" Alexis questioned. .

"Well, not right afterwards."

"Why not?" Alexis quickly questioned.

"I was a wanted fugitive and Angel couldn't exactly employ a wanted fugitive."

"What did you do?"

"Before I was a slayer for even a year I had crossed over into the dark side. In fact Buffy attempted to slay me once and she almost succeeded. She did put me in a coma for a few months."

"You killed someone… a human, didn't you?" Faith gave Alexis a curious look. "I'm mean why else would another slayer try to kill you."

"Okay, you're a little too insightful for my taste." Alexis just grinned. "Anyway, killing people isn't me anymore. So in efforts to redeem myself, I never resisted arrest when a cop approached me minutes after the battle with Wolfram & Hart was over. Angel still had a few connections that wasn't completely severed with the destruction of Wolfram & Hart, so a deal was made in my behalf. In that deal I only saw two years more of prison for involuntary manslaughter and my prison escape one year before was removed from the records." Alexis was grinning as Faith continued to say. "In returned, Angel agreed to stay out of certain areas of Los Angeles. Other slayers and demon hunters can patrol that area for evil demonic activity, but Angel and I can't enter."

"So you've been working for Angel ever since you were released from prison?"

"Yeah. I felt helping Angel out was at least I can do for what he did for me."

"I'm glad that things worked out for you."

Faith grinned while saying, "Me too." Faith then noticed as to how comfortable Alexis was and continued to ask, "Alexis, who was chasing you earlier?"

Alexis was caught off guard by Faith's question. Her uneasiness returned. Faith was about to say something else when Alexis finally said, "I don't know. I never saw them before."

"How many were there?"

"Three that I know of. I didn't stick around to find out if there were any more."

"Do you have any clue as to why they'd be chasing you?"

"I'm thinking because I screwed up."

"How did you screw up?"

"Yesterday evening I went to a college party with one of my friends. There was about fifty people and there was drinking. My drinking is what my mom and I were fighting about. I wasn't drunk though; I only had two drinks. Anyway, at the college party there was a fight between two guys; a blood gushing type fight and I was careless. I came into contact with the blood and my appearance changed for a moment. I was near a mirror so I saw the change myself, but since it was somewhat dark, most of them shrugged it off as being a trick of light along with a little too much partying. However, there was this one guy though; a freshman college student. He called someone. His Uncle Andre I think I heard him say. Anyway while he was looking straight at me, he told him that he found a neuro."

"A neuro? What's a neuro?"

Alexis shook her head while saying, "I was hoping that you could tell me."

Faith shook her head and shrugged before asking, "So what happened after you overheard that phone call?"

"Well, I got scared and left the party. Oh and after I got outside, the person who made that called had followed me out and attempted to coax me back inside. When I refused, he took my picture with his cell phone. I tried to take the phone away from him, but he sent it to someone before I could do it. Since the picture was sent, I gave up trying to get the phone away and dashed home. After getting home, my mom smelled that I had been drinking and we got into a huge argument over it. After arguing for a few minutes I stormed out of the house. I went to a friend's house. He snuck me into his room and allowed me to spend the night; however, he had me sneak out real early in the morning. I figured since I was up, I would go get doughnuts from the gas-mart, but as I was walking towards the station, a woman while talking to some guy pumping gas saw me and blurted out, 'Son of bitch. There's the neuro.' I took off running. I ran through alleyways and cut through backyards in order to prevent them from following me by car and I didn't stop until I got here."

"Okay, you'll stay with me and when Ben gets here in a couple of hours, I'll drive you home," Faith said.

Alexis grinned while saying, "Thanks."

"Hey, no problem. I don't know who these people are, but they're dealing with a slayer now."

In Washington D.C., Kennedy watched Hunter while Buffy, Giles, Xander and Amber met Harry at an empty building that was once a moderate size health club. After the initial introductions between, Harry, Giles and Xander were done, Harry commented, "So, Giles, have you owned a business before?"

"I have actually," Giles said. "Twelve years ago."

"What kind of business was it?" Harry asked.

"It was a magic shop," Giles said. "It was located in Sunnydale California."

"A magical shop," Harry mocked. "Did it make any profit?"

"It paid the bills," Giles said.

"Buffy; Xander, have either of you owned your own business?" Harry asked.

Xander was the first to respond with, "I mainly stayed in construction and maintenance myself."

"What about you, Buffy?" Harry questioned.

"Presently I'm a co-owner of a bookstore in New Sunnydale California," Buffy said. "My partner's name is Willow and we do okay. We have two full time employees and one part-time employee."

"That's good that everyone here is familiar with owning a business," Harry said. "It will make us being co-owners of a karate school easier. Anyway, what does everyone think of this place?"

"It looks nice enough," Buffy said. "However, if you have no objections, I would like Xander to do a pre-inspection to make sure that this place will even pass inspection."

"If Xander knows what to look for, for us to pass inspection then I say, have at it," Harry said.

Xander slightly rubbed his hands together before he began to inspect the building.

At Julius' headquarters, Julius was napping in a dark area of the warehouse when a demon with enough human features to walk around in daylight entered the warehouse. Julius woke up from the sound of the intrusion.

Julius abruptly got to his feet. He changed to his demon face as he faced the demon while saying, "A big mistake trespassing."

"You can't take me, vampire, so I suggest you don't even try," the demon said.

"Who are you?" Julius asked. He then slightly sniffed the air. "What are you? You don't smell human."

"I see that you never met a demon before… not counting other vampires."

"You're a demon?"

"I'm the demon that controls this city, Dr. Briers, and you are operating here without including me in on your operation," he said. "Normally I would make an example out of you and separate your head from your body, but I don't have the final say on that. In fact, I'm under orders to bring you into the fold."

Julius changed back to his human face. As he stepped up to the demon, he asked, "Who are you and how do you know who I am?"

"I'm called, Mysalic," he said as he brought out a pill bottle from his pocket. He then opened the bottle. "You are to take one of these and all will be explained soon."

Julius watched as Mysalic took a capsule from the bottle. When Mysalic handed Julius the capsule, Julius questioned, "What's this for?"

"Take it and all your questions will be answered," Mysalic said.

"What happens if I don't take it?" Julius asked.

"Then I get to make an example of you after all," Mysalic said. Julius just gave Mysalic challenging stare and in a blink of the eye, Mysalic pulled out a wooden stake and ran it through Julius' chest while barely missing the heart. "That was your only warning, vampire." Mysalic yanked the stake from his chest.

Julius stumbled back a step while slightly being doubled over from the pain and covering his wound with his empty hand. He gave Mysalic and disturbed look just before taking the capsule. Once Julius swallowed the capsule Mysalic rattled off an incantation.

When the incantation was over, Julius stumbled a few steps from being dizzy. Just as he was recovering from his dizziness, he questioned, "What in hell did you just do to me?"

Julius heard Lowkey's voice inside his head saying, "Mysalic made it to where we can talk."

Julius quickly jerked his head in all directions while demanding to know, "Who are you? Where are you?"

"You're wasting your time looking for me," Lowkey said. "And you don't have to verbally talk. Because of the spell that Mysalic performed, I can hear your thoughts along with what you hear. And I can see what you see."

Julius stopped looking and asked in a more relaxed tone, "Again who are you and where are you?"

"I'm called Lowkey. Where I am is really not important. What is important is that I can now control your every movement if I desire it. So behave yourself so I don't have to."

"What do you what?"

"The same thing you want; to change the past with that time machine of yours while starting with the elimination of Buffy Summers."

"Who's she?"

"She is the vampire slayer who Capt. Matuzek hired to hunt you down."

"Vampire slayer?" Julius quickly questioned.

"You are less than a week old… so to speak, so I understand that you never heard of a slayer before and a slayer's job is to kill demons. Killing vampires is a slayer's specialty which is what gives her the title, 'the vampire slayer.'"

"So how do we eliminate this vampire slayer?" Julius questioned. He then listened carefully with a grinned across his face as he heard Lowkey's plan.

Mysalic looked over the time machine with great curiosity and once he realized that Julius was no longer talking to Lowkey, he asked, "So, vampire, how does this work?"

At TEC headquarters in the security office, Capt. Matuzek was fuming as he and the lead security guard for the facility were looking at blank files that were supposed to have been the previous night's surveillance files. The files were supposed to have shown how the fire got started. Other surveillance files were blank throughout the building during the same time frame.

"There has been a severe security breach here last night and I want answers!" Capt. Matuzek practically screamed as there was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

Kennedy stepped in before saying, "You wanted to see Buffy, but Buffy isn't here at the moment. I was wondering if I could be any assistance."

Capt. Matuzek took a second to get a handle on his rage before saying, "Yes, Kennedy. I'm asking all department heads to do an inventory of their things and report if anything that is missing."

Capt. Matuzek saw that Kennedy wanted to ask a question, but after briefly hesitating, she simply said, "Of course." She then backed out while shutting the door behind her.

In Los Angeles, Alexis was giving Faith the directions to her house. Half of a block from the house, Alexis saw a moving van parked across the street from her house. Faith saw the curious expression on Alexis' face and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

"No one is moving in or out that I know of," Alexis said. "So I'm wondering who has the moving van."

"We should find out," Faith said as she parked her SUV in the closest parking space behind the van. "Wait here and get down out of sight"

"Why?" Alexis asked when Faith turned off the engine.

"I don't have time to explain," Faith said as she opened the door. "Now get down out of sight."

"Okay," Alexis said before hunching down out of view.

Faith stealthy approached the van from the back. She pulled out a long blade switchblade before reaching the van and just as she stepped up to the rear tires, she stabbed the passenger's side tire.

Conner King and Jane Vasco jumped out from the passenger's side as Faith was pocketing her knife. Faith noticed Andre McBride getting out from the driver's side as she was telling the other two, "It seems that you two… I'm mean you three had gotten a flat tire. I hope that there's a spare."

As Andre was moving around from the front of the van, he demanded to know, "Who are you?"

"I'm Faith," she answered. "By chance is one of you two guys is Andre."

"That's me," he said.

As Faith stared at Andre, she said, "You're looking for a friend of mind and I want to know why."

"What friend would that be?" Andre asked as he stepped up to Conner's side.

"Alexis Wilson and I want to know why you're after her."

"I'm afraid that is between us three and her," Andre said. "Now where is she?"

"You just don't get," Faith said. "I'm Alexis' liaison. Before you go anywhere near her, you have to go through me first and that's not going to happen. So let's begin again from the point at where I asked you why that you are after Alexis. And I would like to caution you that a wrong answer will become very painful for you three."

Jane got into Faith's face before saying, "You're a cocky bitch!"

In a quick motion, Faith had hit Jane twice across the face before any of the three could react. In seconds Jane was on the ground dazed.

Connor had charged at Faith and in one swift motion Faith threw Conner flying through the air. He hit the ground several feet from where he was thrown from.

"Shit! Another Neuro," Andre blurted as he reached for his gun to chip Faith.

Faith saw the gun and before Andre had a chance to pull it out Faith gave him a series of kicks and punches that knocked him unconscious.

Jane had recovered from being hit and grabbed Faith from the back. In a quick and precise move, Faith elbowed Jane across the bridge of the nose while breaking her nose. When Jane loosened her gripped from the pain, Faith broke loosed from Jane and turned towards her to strike. She saw Conner charging at her again and threw Jane into him. Jane fell to the ground and before Conner had a chance to recover, Faith struck him with a series of kicks and punches that knocked him unconscious too. Jane, being the last one standing against Faith, tried a futile attempted to subdue her and within a short time she too was knocked unconscious.

Allyson, Alexis' mom, had witness the tail end of the event and came running out while shouting that she was going to call the police. Alexis heard her mom yelling and got out of the SUV. As Alexis stepped up, she blurted out for her mom to hear, "Mom, this is Faith. She's protecting me."

"Why do you need protecting?" Allyson asked. "And where have you been all night?"

"These three are after your daughter for some reason, Mrs. Wilson, and I'm going to find out why," Faith said. "Alexis, holler out if you see any of these three move."

"Where are you going?" Alexis asked.

"I have chains in the back of the SUV. The chains aren't very thick or strong, but it should be strong enough to hold these three… at least long enough to get some answers anyway." Faith then walked towards her SUV.

Faith was a few feet away when Allyson said, "Alexis, explain to me what's going on?"

"Mom, I know that I'm a demon… or half demon," Alexis began. "Faith was the one to explain what kind of demon I am."

In a slightly stunned manner, Allyson said, "Okay, I didn't realize that you knew. You're definitely not showing any signs of what you are."

"But I am, Mom," Alexis said. She then began explaining to her mom what her demon half allows her to do.

Within in a short time, Faith had chained Jane, Andre and Conner up and had carried them one by one into Allyson's house. The three were on the floor face down. The gun that Andre had was tucked away at Faith's back.

They were in the house for five minutes when Jane came around first. Faith was explaining to Allyson how she met Alexis when Jane asked, "So what are your plans for us?"

Faith faced Jane and noticed that Jane's nose had completely healed. Faith then said, "My immediate plans are to find out all I can about you three and you can start by telling me your name."

"I'm Jane. You know which one of the two is Andre and the other is Conner."

"Okay, Jane, what's a neuro?" Faith asked.

"Neuro is short for neurological aberrant," Jane answered. "Each neuro has his or her own unique mutant ability. Yours apparently is super strength and agility while Alexis Wilson is shape shifting."

"I'm no neuro," Alexis quickly said.

"Alexis," Faith blurted out. "I'll handle this."

"Fine," Alexis said.

"You were searching for Alexis because you wrongfully thought that she's a neuro," Faith commented. "What were you going to do with Alexis once you caught her?"

"Chip her and then send her to a secure facility with other chipped neuros in order to keep her away from the non-neuro population," Jane answered.

"You were going to put a behavior modification chip in her to controller her?" Faith asked. Before Jane could answer, Faith continued to ask, "Are you part of a new reformed Initiative group?"

In a confused manner, Jane quickly questioned, "Behavior modification chip? Initiative group? What are you talking about?"

"If it's not a behavior modification chip then what kind of chip is it?" Faith asked as Andre was waking up.

"The chip is to neutralize the neuro to make him or her harmless," Jane said.

"If the chip makes a neuro harmless then why lock the chipped neuros away from the non-neuro population?" Faith asked.

"The chip can be shorted out," Jane said. "We keep them inside a secure facility so they can't short out their chip."

"What does the chip do to non-neuros?" Faith asked.

"Nothing," Jane answered.

"Are you sure?" Faith asked.

"We chipped non-neuros before while thinking that they were neuros at the time and no harm came to them," Jane said.

"Do you take them to a special lab to chip them?" Faith asked.

Andre was the one to answer, "The gun that I was reaching for is how we chip neuros."

Faith pulled out the gun while asking, "This gun shoots chips to neutralize neuros?"

"Yes," Jane and Andre answered as Conner was waking up.

"Alexis, go get me a clean cup," Faith said.

"Why do you need a cup for?" Alexis asked.

"I'm going to prove to them that we are no neuros," Faith said. "So go get me that cup."

In a skeptical tone, Alexis said, "O-okay." As Alexis was walking away, she commented, "I can't see how a cup can prove that."

Faith had pulled out her knife when Alexis was halfway to the kitchen. Alexis was gone for only a minute and once she returned with the cup, Faith told her, "Put the cup on the coffee table." Once the cup was on the table, Faith sliced opened the palm of her own hand.

"What in hell are you doing?" Allyson exclaimed just before Faith dripped blood into the cup.

"You'll see in a moment," Faith said. "Alexis, can you go get me something so I can wrap my hand?"

"Sure," Alexis said before walking away.

Alexis was gone for a couple of minute and when she returned with a rag, she handed it to Faith. Faith continued to fill the cup until it was enough to fill two shot glasses. She then wrapped her wound. Once the wound was wrapped, she went and unchained Jane.

As Jane was standing up, Faith asked, "Are you certain that the chip won't harm non-neuros?"

"Yes, I'm very certain," Jane confirmed.

"Good, because I'm going to let you chip me and then Alexis," Faith said.

"What?" Alexis quickly blurted out as Faith was handing Jane the gun.

"We're not neuros, so that chip won't do anything to us," Faith said.

"Let me unchain my friends first," Jane said.

"I'll release them once I'm chipped," Faith said.

"Go ahead, chip her," Conner said.

"Okay," Jane said. "Oh and this will be at the back of the neck." Faith moved her hair to bare her neck. Jane raised the gun to Faith's neck and chipped her.

"Now that stung a little," Faith said as she rubbed the spot on her neck. "Okay, now chip Alexis while I'll remove the chains from your friends."

As Jane moved to chip Alexis, Faith bent down and used her slayer strength and broke the chains that bound Andre with little effort.

Andre saw her breaking the chains with very little struggle and said, "You weren't affected by the chip."

"I'm not a neuro," Faith said as she broke the chains that bound Conner. She then stood up while holding a five-foot piece of the chain. Andre and Conner got on their feet as well. When Faith faced Alexis, Alexis was rubbing the back of her neck with a sour expression on her face. "Okay, Alexis. You've been chipped. Now I want you to drink the blood in the cup."

"Eeww," Alexis blurted out. "Can I just touch it with my fingers?"

"I have a reason that I want you to drink it," Faith said. "And drink it all."

"Fine," Alexis said. She then picked up the cup of blood; closed her eyes; held her nose and drank the blood. Within an instant, Alexis changed into and maintain the appearance of Faith at the age of seventeen.

"My god, she just shape shifted into a younger version of you," Conner blurted.

"Damn, I forgot how good I looked at seventeen," Faith commented.

Alexis immediately moved towards a mirror and said as she saw her reflection, "Wow, I can be your little sister, Faith."

"If she's not a neuro then how can she do that?" Andre questioned.

"Alexis is half echo demon from her father's side…" Faith said.

"She's half demon?" Jane quickly mocked in disbelief.

"Everything that you heard about that lurks at night and convinced yourself by the light of day that couldn't be true is real," Faith said. "Vampires and demons are real. So yes, Alexis is half demon on her dad's side and half human from her mom's side. And by her being an echo demon, she more than looks like me at the moment. In all intents and purposes she is me; at least for about five to ten minutes. Once she digests my blood, she will revert back to her former self; however, while she's in that form, she has my strength."

Alexis grinned real big before questioning, "I have your strength?"

Faith held out the chain for Alexis to take while saying, "Check for yourself."

Alexis took the chain and with the same amount of effort that Faith had to use, Alexis broke the chain.

Alexis smiled before saying, "You never told me the part of me gaining the strengths when I echo someone."

"Yeah, well, that's something that I didn't really want to advertise to you," Faith said. "And as well as echoing someone's strengths you will echo someone's weaknesses too."

"So are you a demon too?" Conner questioned.

"Just the opposite actually," Faith said. "I'm the slayer… well, I'm not 'the' slayer, but I'm a slayer. Normally there is only one at a time, but through manipulation during the past sixteen years and a fluke incident during the past twenty-four hours, there are presently five slayers."

"And what is a slayer?" Andre asked.

"A slayer is the one who slay vampires, demons and fights the forces of darkness," Faith simply stated.

"But you're not slaying Alexis, who you just indicated as a half echo demon that apparently shape shifts from drinking blood," Jane pointed out.

"Alexis is a non-threatening demon," Faith said. "I only worry about killing the threatening ones."

"What makes her a non-threatening demon versus a threatening one?" Conner questioned.

"With echo demons, the mother governs the appearance and temperament of the offspring," Faith explained. "Alexis' mom is human; therefore Alexis' natural appearance, temperament and desires are human."

"And the only way for her to change her appearance is for her to drink blood?" Jane questioned.

"Eating uncooked fresh flesh will do it too," Faith said.

"Drinking that blood was disgusting enough, thank you very much," Alexis said. Faith just grinned.

"Last night my nephew saw you at a college party…" Andre was only able to get out.

"You were at a college party, Alexis?" Allyson blurted out.

Alexis cringed while timidly saying, "Yes."

"Oh, yeah, you're definitely a normal teenager," Jane commented.

"Mrs. Wilson, you can worry about parenting and disciplining her later, but first I would like to know how your daughter had changed her appearance at that party if she didn't drink blood or eat fresh flesh," Andre said.

"There was a fight at the party and I came in contact with someone's blood," Alexis said.

"An echo demon will change just for a brief moment if he or she comes into physical contact with someone's blood," Faith added. "It usually happens so quickly that the echo demon doesn't even know that his or her appearance had changed, unless, like in Alexis' case, she was standing next to a mirror. Also here's a good tidbit to know. An echo demon can't change genders. If Alexis drinks blood from someone of the male gender, she changes into the female version of that person. And as you see here, she also maintains her own age. Anyway what's the sitch with you three? I mean do you chip and ship all neuros or just the ones that you don't like?"

"We have a no exception policy even though Jane and my fourth crewmember Riley had each turned a blind eye to one," Andre said.

Faith saw Jane turning away while holding her tongue as Alexis questioned, "No exceptions even if the person's ability is harmless?"

"There are no harmless neuros in spite of how harmless it seems at the time," Andre said.

"That's pretty self-righteous of you," Allyson said.

"We have determined that neuros can't distinguish right from wrong," Andre said.

"Is that true with Jane as well?" Faith questioned. "You think Jane can't distinguish right from wrong?"

"I'm no neuro," Jane quickly said.

Faith uncovered her hand and showed her wound to Jane while saying, "Quick healing for me comes included with the slayer's package deal. And you heal in minutes even with a broken nose." Jane slightly rubbed her nose. "Which is much faster than I can heal. So why do you heal quickly?"

"That information is on a need to know basis and you don't need to know," Andre said. "She's no neuro. Several different tests were done to prove that."

"Okay, I'll take your word that Jane is no neuro, but in my world of demon fighting, there are no black and white situations," Faith said. "There are only shades of gray and how you can see only black and white in your world of hunting neuros is beyond me."

"If I start seeing shades of gray then dangerous people could go unchecked," Andre said. "I can't take that risk." He glanced at Jane and Conner. "We can't take that risk."

"Fair enough," Faith said. "But to be clear about this, Alexis is my responsibility. I'll keep her in check if she needs to be kept in check."

"Fair enough," Andre said. "Anyway, since there are no neuros here, we should change that flat tire and leave."

"Since a certain demon slayer flattened it, perhaps she should be the one to change it," Conner hinted to.

Faith grinned while saying, "The correct term is vampire slayer and I'm an old fashion gal. Changing flat tires is men's work."

Conner grinned before uttering, "Yeah and why don't I believe that."

"With her super strength, she would severely over tighten the lug nuts anyway and…" Andre was only able to say.

"I can control my strength when I need to," Faith said.

"I'm sure you believe that, but I don't want to take the chance that you would accidentally break the lug bolts," Andre said.

"I wouldn't break any lug bolts," Faith insisted.

"How easily that you broke those chains you can't honestly expect me to believe that you haven't broken anything like a lug bolt on several occasions?" Andre questioned.

"Okay, Conner, point me in the direction of the spare," Faith said. "I'm changing that flat and without breaking any lug bolts."

When Faith stormed towards the door in front of everyone, Andre grinned. Allyson saw the grinned on Andre's face and shook her head with a grinned.

Alexis was about to trail behind Faith and Andre's group when Allyson quickly said, "Alexis, you need to stay in here for a few more minutes."

Alexis stopped at the door. As she faced her mom, she asked, "Why?"

"You look like Faith at the moment and our neighbors don't need to see you reverting back to your true features in the next few minutes," Allyson said.

Alexis grinned before saying, "Oops, I didn't think of that."

"It's a good thing that I thought about it then," Allyson said. "Besides, I want to discuss you going to that college party last night."

"Am I grounded?" Alexis quickly asked.

"I was going to, but then Jane mentioned that you were a normal teenager and I have to agree," Allyson said. "When I was your age, I also ended up at a college party once."

"So I'm not grounded?" Alexis questioned.

Allyson shook her head while saying, "Not this time."

"Cool."

"Stay away from college parties until you are actually in college though and no more drinking until you're twenty-one," Allyson firmly stated.

"Yes, Ma'am," Alexis said.

Outside, Faith was almost done changing the flat tire when Alexis stepped out of the house while looking like herself.

Once the tire was changed, Andre's group said their goodbyes, got in the van and drove away.

Faith was about to say her goodbye to Alexis, but hesitated when a thought came to her. Alexis was about to ask about it when Faith commented, "I've told you my plans earlier about going on a long drive to check on this woman named Dana." Alexis just nodded. "Would you care to come with me and keep me company?"

Alexis grinned before saying, "I'd like that. I should tell my mom where I'm going though."

"I'll wait for you at the vehicle," Faith said. Alexis nodded before walking back towards her house.


	26. Chapter 26

At TEC headquarters, Dean and Nichole were taking inventory in the library while Kennedy and Cat were taking inventory in the office. Hunter was in the office with Kennedy and Cat while slightly hindering their progress as he meddled into things that he shouldn't be meddling with. Sam had left the headquarters to meet up with Vicki for his lunch date a few minutes before everyone got started taking inventory.

The office was in a slight mess as things were out of place when Buffy, Giles, Xander and Amber were walking in.

Kennedy and Cat had stopped in mid-motion when the four stepped in. When Hunter went to Buffy, Buffy picked him up.

Xander was the first to comment, "Let me guess. You two were looking for a pen."

"No, funny man," Kennedy began. "There has been a security breach last night and Capt. Matuzek wants to know if anything is missing."

"Around the time of the fire?" Giles questioned.

"That's my guess," Kennedy said. "Capt. Matuzek wasn't in too good of a mood, so I was scared to ask when the security breach had happened.

"Unfortunately we have no clue what we're even looking for to determine if it's missing," Cat said.

"Well, other than the watcher's journals there really nothing worth stealing?" Giles said.

"Yeah, well, all ten watcher's journals in this room are still here," Kennedy said. "Dean and Nichole are in the library taking inventory of those journals"

"Well, there should be more than ten journals in this room," Giles corrected. He then gestured towards a cabinet. "I've been keeping Buffy's journals in there."

"There are no journals in there," Cat said.

"What?" Giles quickly moved towards the cabinet. He jerked the door open and when he saw no journals he exclaimed, "Good lord."

"Okay, Giles, what all was in those journals?" Buffy worriedly questioned.

"A complete daily history from the time we met to when you went off to college," Giles said. "After that, I just wrote periodically. Oh, uh, Adam and Glory were mentioned in detail."

"Okay, from what I know of Lowkey, I'm certain that he's the demon that has this place mystically bugged along with having my journals stolen and he had just crossed the wrong slayer," Buffy said. "So as of now we're on the hunt for Lowkey as well."

"How bad can it be for Lowkey to have those journals?" Cat questioned.

"My journals plus Dr. Briers time machine equals a whole lot of disasters," Buffy simply stated.

"We better find Dr. Briers before Lowkey does," Giles said.

"Too bad we don't have anything of his to do a locator spell," Kennedy commented.

"Dr. Briers did work for this facility before being sired," Cat pointed out. "So wouldn't there be something of his somewhere in this building?"

"That won't work," Kennedy was the one to say. "We need something of his after he was sired."

"So what do we do?" Cat asked.

"We need to learn everything we can about Lowkey, like what kind of demon he is," Buffy said.

"Which will be very difficult finding that out if every demon that heard of Lowkey is walking around with a mystical bug with a direct link to Lowkey," Xander commented.

"Xander has a point," Giles said. "Asking around about Lowkey will just tip him off that we're on to him."

"Then it's time that Lowkey goes deaf and blind," Buffy said. "Once he can't hear or see what's going on in the world around him, he'll have no choice, but to surface."

"How will we do that?" Cat asked.

"We'll need Willow for that," Buffy said as she handed Hunter to Xander. She then moved towards the phone. "I'm calling Willow to see how long she'll be."

In New Sunnydale, California, Willow, Dawn and Valerie were passengers in Tabitha's car while approaching the bookstore. Willow was in the front passenger's seat and as she was hanging up her phone after talking to Buffy, Tabitha asked, "So what's happening in D.C?"

"Buffy thinks that a demon named Lowkey has the facility in D.C. mystically bugged which is most likely what I was sensing with Dr. Easter," Willow said. "She needs us back in D.C. as soon as possible so I can locate and eliminate those bugs." Tabitha pulled straight into a parking spot in front of the bookstore. Boards were covering the broken windows. "So who had the windows boarded up?"

"Brody did," Tabitha said as she turned off the engine. "He supposed to be in there now inspecting the damages."

"Great," Dawn sarcastically commented. "I'm so not ready to explain the last twenty-four hours to him just yet."

"Who's Brody?" Valerie asked.

"My husband. And the thought of witchcraft gives him the heebie-jeebies. He isn't going to be happy with me that our son Hunter was left in D.C. either." Dawn opened her door while saying, "Well, I might as well get this over with."

Willow, Tabitha and Valerie got out of the car after Dawn did and followed Dawn into bookstore.

Inside the bookstore, the damages mainly consisted of few turned over and broken bookshelves; holes in the drywall from the turned over bookshelves and scattered books. Brody had a notebook and listing the damages that he saw.

When Brody saw the four walking in, he walked towards them while saying, "The damages looks worse than what it is. It's mostly turned over bookshelves and scattered books."

"We have to include the crinkled books as damages too though," Willow said.

"How many books fell there are actually only about thirty books that looks in bad shape," Brody said before he gave Dawn a passionate kiss that last a few seconds. "So is Hunter with my mom?"

Dawn shook her head while saying, "He with Buffy and Xander in D.C."

Brody said in a serious tone, "Why did you leave Hunter in D.C."

Because of Brody's serious tone, Dawn couldn't help herself, but to say, "Brody, I'm devoicing you and moving to D.C." When Brody gave Dawn a stunned look Dawn laughed. "I'm so kidding."

"Don't do that to me," Brody quickly said. Valerie sensed a sixth presence in the room.

"Anyway, Hunter was left in D.C. because Willow and I had a Scooby mission in Twin Falls," Dawn said. Valerie went to find what she was sensing.

"You went on a Scooby mission?" Brody mocked. "I thought we agreed about that being your sister's life and not yours."

"One, I didn't agreed to it and two, I found out that I had an ability that Buffy needed on this particular Scooby mission," Dawn said.

"What kind of ability," Brody said.

Dawn began to explain the last twenty-four hours to Brody along with telling him about the job that Capt. Matuzek offered her.

Willow and Tabitha were noticing that Valerie was looking around near the turned over bookshelves with a slight disturbed expression on her face.

Willow stepped up behind Valerie and said, "It has been awhile since an Earthquake hit this area, but this isn't really all that bad." Willow saw that Valerie was attempting to see underneath one of the turned over bookshelves and not listening to her. The bookshelf was propped up eight inches off the ground while leaning against another bookshelf. "Valerie!" Valerie glanced back and forward again without responding. "Are you okay?"

Valerie squatted down for a better look before saying, "I'm actually sensing a presence underneath this bookshelf, but all I'm seeing is some kind of trophy… I think a cheerleading trophy."

"Step back and let me see," Willow said as Tabitha stepped up and watched the two. When Valerie moved away, Willow squatted down for a look. When she saw the trophy, she used her witchcraft while saying, "Come to me." The trophy slid across the floor to Willow.

When Willow took hold of the trophy, Valerie said, "Okay, I now see the usefulness of that levitation exercise."

Willow grinned before saying, "This cheerleading trophy is from the original Sunnydale high school. Brody found it in the Sunnydale's rubble eight years ago. Since Buffy, Xander and I graduated from the original Sunnydale high school, Brody gave it to us for a keepsake. It's in excellent shape for what it had gone through."

"Why am I feeling a presence from it?" Valerie questioned.

"Perhaps there's a presence trapped inside," Tabitha suggested. "Like with that story about how you and Anya had released a dangerous troll from that large crystal."

Valerie gave Tabitha a curious look as Willow said, "Well, let's find out if that's the case."

"Whoa! You're not going to take a chance and release a dangerous troll… or something just as dangerous from that, are you?" Valerie worriedly asked as Willow stepped over to an upright bookshelf with the trophy.

"I can find out without releasing what is trapped inside; if there's anything trapped inside," Willow said as she set the trophy on the shelf. She then rattled off an incantation in Latin before finishing up with, "Reveal."

In an instant the woman's presence trapped inside the trophy showed itself as a life-size ghostly image. The imaged was displayed a few feet from the trophy and her pose mocked the statue's pose. Dawn and Brody's conversation abruptly ended as their attentions were drawn to the ghostly image as she rattled off, "I will get out of here and then you will be sorry; all of you. All of you will pay for this…"

"Oh god, I know her," Willow blurted out in a disturbed manner. "She tried to kill Buffy, Xander, Giles and me."

"Who… who is she?" Tabitha asked.

"She's Catherine Madison," Willow said while continuing to look at the ghostly image in a disturbed manner. "She's Amy's mom."

"How did she get trapped inside the trophy?" Tabitha asked.

"Like Amy, she's a witch… a bad witch in fact. More so than Amy and she cast a spell to send Buffy to a place where she couldn't interfere again. Buffy reflected the spell though and it enveloped her instead."

"She trapped herself inside the trophy?" Valerie questioned.

"She must've," Willow said. "God, she's been inside the trophy since I was sixteen."

"Okay, this is why I don't like witchcraft!" Brody blurted out as he stepped up.

"Witchcraft is like guns," Valerie spouted back. "It's not the witchcraft that hurts people; it's the person using the witchcraft. That's why there's a guideline of not casting a spell for personal gain." Valerie then saw a delightful grin on Willow's face.

"Okay, that might be true, but I still don't like witchcraft," Brody said.

"People are always scared of or dislike what they don't understand," Valerie commented.

"Okay, not the time for soapbox talk, people," Willow said. "We have a witch trapped in a trophy here."

"So do we let her out?" Dawn asked.

"She talking revenge, so I vote no," Tabitha said.

"Is there a way to communicate with her and reason with her?" Valerie asked.

"She wasn't the type of person who could be reason with before being trapped in the trophy, so I'm going with big 'no' on that," Willow said.

"Well, leaving her in there seems to be an inhumane punishment if you ask me," Valerie commented.

"Versus letting her out so she can go on a killing spree," Tabitha pointed out.

"Well, there have to be a happy medium between the two scenarios of keeping her locked in that trophy and letting her out to go on a killing spree," Valerie said.

"And until we can find that happy medium she stays locked up," Willow firmly stated before she made a gesture towards the trophy. The ghostly image immediately disappeared from sight. "In the mean time, this trophy gets put up in a safe place." She picked up the trophy. "Val, I'll activate your slayer strength as soon as I put this up."

Valerie nodded. As Willow walked away, Brody asked Valerie, "You're a potential slayer?"

"That and an apprentice witch," Valerie said.

"Super," Brody sarcastically said. "Another witch is exactly what we need around here."

Valerie was about to respond, when Willow said over her shoulder, "Oh, Tabitha, search through the pile of books for the books on learning Latin, chemistry and physics for Valerie."

"You got it," Tabitha said. Tabitha knew where those books where before the Earthquake and went to the pile of books from that general area.

Dawn saw the slight tension between Valerie and Brody as they stared at each other. When Tabitha walked away, Valerie turned away from Brody without saying a word and went with Tabitha to help look for the three books.

"Brody, just because Valerie studies witchcraft doesn't automatically make her evil," Dawn said in Valerie's behalf.

"I know that, it's just that… well I feel that I have just gotten used to being around Willow and now there's another one," Brody said. Dawn just gave Brody a consoling hug.

As Tabitha and Valerie picked through the books, Valerie asked, "So what happened with Brody for him to be so frighten of witchcraft?"

"As far as I know, nothing happened," Tabitha said. "And if this helps, the only reason that he's fairly relaxed around Willow is because he has known Willow for about seven years."

"So how long should I expect the awkward stares from him to last?" Valerie questioned.

"I'll say for at least the next six and a half years," Tabitha jokingly said.

Valerie grinned while sarcastically saying, "Now that's comforting."

"I'm kidding," Tabitha said as she was finding one of the books. "I don't really know how long. Hey, look. Here's one of the books."

Twenty miles outside Los Angeles, Faith pulled into a driveway of a five bedroom house with a three-car-garage and an inside swimming pool.

Faith glanced at the address again before shutting of her engine while saying to Alexis, "Well, this is it."

"That woman, Dana, seems to be doing okay for herself," Alexis commented.

"At least it appears that way," Faith said as she opened her door.

Alexis remained at Faith's side as Faith stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell. Faith pulled out a business card during the short time that it took for her to hear footsteps walking towards the door.

A housekeeper opened the door and asked, "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Faith," she said as she handed the woman the card. "I'm from Angel's investigations and this is my friend Alexis."

"You're a PI?" the housekeeper asked as she looked at the card.

"Well, I'm not; I'm just an assistant," Faith said. "Angel is the one who went through night school and got his license. Myself, I don't have the patients to do that."

"Okay," the housekeeper said. "So how can I help you and Alexis?"

"I'm looking for a woman named Dana… and I failed to get a last name," Faith said. "She's supposed to live here though."

"Well, my boss's niece is named Dana, but she doesn't live here," the housekeeper said.

"Where does she live?" Faith asked.

The housekeeper crossed her arms before asking, "And why are you looking for her?"

"An old friend of hers had asked me to get in contact with her for her," Faith said.

"And the friend's name?" the housekeeper asked.

"Kennedy Masterson," Faith said. "Kennedy and Dana went to grade school together and I do understand that being that far back there's an excellent chance that Dana might not even remember Kennedy."

"But yet Kennedy remember Dana after all these years?" the housekeeper questioned.

"From what I understand, Dana had a great influence on who Kennedy is today, and great influences are nothing you forget no matter how long ago it was or how young you were at the time," Faith said. "And now Kennedy would like to meet Dana or at least know about the Dana of today."

"Why are you here and instead of Kennedy?" the housekeeper said.

"Kennedy is in Washington D.C. right now and she doesn't know when she'll get the chance to come herself," Faith said.

"Well, I won't give you Dana's address, but I will pass on to her everything you told me." The housekeeper then slightly held up the card and asked, "May I keep this?"

"Sure, no problem; I have more," Faith said. "Before I leave though, could I ask as to how Dana is doing?" The housekeeper gave Faith a curious look. "I figure Kennedy will ask me that when I talk to her."

"Tell her, that Dana is doing good," the housekeeper said. "She's married to a physician and has two sons who are seven and five."

Faith nodded before saying, "Thanks." She then glanced at Alexis. "It's time to go."

"Bye," Alexis said.

"Bye," the housekeeper said followed by Faith.

When Faith and Alexis walked away, the housekeeper back up and closed the door.

In Washington D.C. an hour before sunset, Sam was still out on his date with Vicki. Buffy, Kennedy, Dean, Amber, Nichole and Cat, went back to Amanda's house after buying the ingredients for the spell that will revoke a vampire's invitation. Once the crosses were nailed to the wall at the appropriate places and everything prior to the incantation was done, they all met back in the living room. By Kennedy having a relationship with Willow, she knew the spell better than Buffy, so Kennedy was the one to recite the incantation.

Once Kennedy was done, Amanda asked, "Are you certain that Quincy is now unable to enter my home?"

"As long as you don't re-invite him in, he can't come in," Buffy said.

"Could I get a copy of that spell for future use?" Dean asked.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I'll make sure you get a copy. Anyway, Amanda, we're done here so if Quincy comes around give us a call."

"I would feel a lot better if you would stay." Buffy was about to respond when Amanda continued to say, "But I know you can't because your presence would scare Quincy off and if he is scared off, you can't slay him."

"We will be just a phone call away," Buffy assured her.

When Amanda nodded, Buffy and her group said their goodbyes and left. Amanda stood in her doorway and watched Buffy and her group climb into their vehicle and drove away. There was a coffee shop three blocks from Amanda's house and Buffy's group went straight there to hang out and wait.

Ten minutes after sunset, at Julius' headquarters a set of identical twin half demons with human features and two vampires entered the warehouse while carrying a coffin with a skeleton that was stripped of its flesh. One of the vampires was wearing a suit and appeared as if he was just recently buried. The other vampire was just casually dressed. As Julius and Mysalic walked up to them, Julius said, "So this must be the skeleton Lowkey wants me to send into the past to replace the Master's skeleton."

"I'm still confused as to why we have to move the Master's skeleton to Washington, D.C and rebury it," one of the demon said. "Lowkey took control of someone in TEC headquarters, so why don't we just wait for Lowkey to steal a recall device before going after the Master's bones?"

"People, Animals and the remains of the two that belongs in the past can't be brought forward into the future by time travelers," Julius began. "I could give you the physics as to why we can't, but you wouldn't understand it anyway so I won't bother. Anyway to get a skeleton from 1997 to the year 2013 we have to go back and put it somewhere where we can get to it now."

"And once these four and the skeleton leave here by your machine, the Master's bone will be obtainable?" Mysalic questioned.

"Well, you may want to give it five minutes, but yes, pretty much… as long as the four don't fail," Julius said.

"We won't fail," the second demon said.

"Good," Julius said. "Let's get started then."

Everyone then moved towards the machine. Once the coffin, the two demons and two vampires were all set, Julius activated the machine and sent them to Sunnydale four days before Collin (the Anointed One) and his minions set out to dig up the Master's bones.

At the TEC headquarters an alarm sounded to indicate a time disruption. When the person at the controls checked where and when it was, the time disruption settled itself. As he checked the logs he discovered that the disruption was a low-level occurrence in Sunnydale in September of 1997. He got on the phone and reported it to Capt. Matuzek.

Because of Sunnydale being a hell-mouth, Capt. Matuzek didn't take the low-level time disruption too seriously. However, just in case it was something to be concern about, Capt. Matuzek assigned Jack and Claire to travel back in time to Sunnydale on the affected date just for reconnaissance. Because of the stories Jack had heard regarding the hell-mouth, Jack and Claire each took a cross and a bottle of holy water.

7:40 P.M., four days before Collin and his minions set out to dig up the Master's bones, the two demons, the two vampires and the coffin emerged from a vortex just a hundred feet from where the Master's bones were buried. After a short search they found the gravesite. Because of the ground being consecrated, the demons were the ones to uncover the bones, but they all four helped to move it.

After the two skeletons were switched, the grave was once again covered up and consecrated. The coffin was then carried to the abandon factory that will soon become Spike and Drusilla's hideout. Once at the factory, one of the vampires stayed behind to guard over the Master's bones while the other three went out to steal a vehicle big enough to transport the coffin.

It was a few minutes before sunrise when the three returned with a van. Once the coffin was loaded into the van, one of the demons said, "My brother and I can handle things from here. Why don't you two vampires stay behind and find someone to eat once the sun goes down again."

"That's sounds like my kind of plan," the casual dressed vampire said.

"Good," the demon said. He and his brother then got into the van and drove away.

During the passing daylight hours, the two vampires got on each other nerves to the point that they went to blows. The fight ended when the one wearing the suit accidentally threw the other one through a window and into the daylight. The vampire burst into flames before exploding into dust.

"Oops," the vampire said as he looked out the window and watched the dust blowing away by the wind. "Sorry about that."

The vampire then sat down and rested until sunset. When sunset came, he left the factory to find someone to eat.

Jack and Claire emerged from a vortex down the road from the Bronze. Jack immediately checked his scanner. When his scanner came up negative on a time disruption, he said, "As of right now, I'm getting nothing."

"Perhaps we should just roam around," Claire said.

"There's a club up the street," Jack said. "If that's the club I think it is then according to Willow, that was the center of the nightlife in this town. We can start with that."

"Let's go," Claire said as she gestured.

Jack and Claire entered the Bronze, ordered their drinks and went to the tables on the upper floor with their drinks where it was quiet.

As they watched the crowd while having a general conversation the vampire from the factory stepped in and skulked around.

Claire saw the vampire as he was talking to woman. She then interrupted what Jack was saying with, "Hey that guy down there looks like Margo's brother."

"Margo? The cafeteria's nutritionist?"

"Yeah, Margo showed me pictures of him about two weeks ago; the day after he was killed. He lived in Canton, Ohio and I swear that guy down there can be his twin."

"So how did Margo's brother die?"

"I think Margo told me that an animal attacked him and he died from blood loss."

"The bite marks wouldn't have been at the neck, would it?" Jack quickly questioned.

"She didn't say, but I was told that the wound wasn't all that noticeable and that they had an open casket."

"Shit!" Jack uttered out barely above a whisper while standing up. Claire gave him a curious look. "We know that Dr. Briers is somewhere in Ohio and I'm willing to bet that that guy down there is Margo's brother and he's a vampire sent here by Dr. Briers."

Claire glanced down again as she stood up. When she saw the vampire leaving with a woman, she said, "Well he's leaving with someone. So we better hurry."

Jack and Claire had rushed outside. They stopped for a moment to look around. Jack was pulling out the scanner when he and Claire heard a scuffle around the corner. When they ran around the corner to check, they saw the woman being consoled by Angel. Jack and Claire didn't know who he was though, and as they stepped up, Jack asked, "Excuse me, Miss. My friend and I saw you leaving the Bronze with a guy. It is important that we find him."

"Believe me, you don't want to find him," Angel said.

"We have our reasons," Jack said. "Where did he go?"

"Angel chased him away in that direction," the woman said.

"Angel?" Claire mocked as she studied Angel's face. "You're Angel?"

"You heard of me?" Angel questioned.

Jack tried to play it off by quickly saying, "Her horoscope said that a guardian angel will be watching, but still chances should be avoided."

Claire politely grinned while saying, "I'm big on horoscopes and sometime I take them too literal." She then gestured in a direction. "Anyway, you said that the guy went that way?"

"Yes," the woman said.

"You should probably listen to the last part of your horoscope," Angel said.

"Only if I could," Claire said. She and Jack then took off in the direction of the vampire.

In the cemetery, the sixteen-year-olds Willow and Xander were walking down the path while playing 'guess that movie.'

While in sight of the cemetery, Claire thought that she saw the vampire that they were looking for entering the cemetery. As they rushed into the cemetery to catch up they saw the vampire stepping up to the teenaged couple next to a wall. The couple looked as though that they were about to kiss just before the girl screamed from the sight of the vampire.

"Willow, go," Jack and Claire heard the boy hollering out just before he put himself in between the vampire and the girl. The girl just stood their watching as the boy struggled with the vampire.

Jack and Claire were about to dash in to help, but before they had a chance to, they saw a sixteen-year-old blonde girl pulling the vampire off of the boy. Jack stopped walking while grabbing Claire to stop walking.

Claire glanced back at Jack while saying, "We have to go help."

Jack ducked down behind a gravestone while saying, "The slayer and her friends don't need our help."

"The slayer?" Claire mocked before ducking down beside Jack. She then took a better look at the girl fighting the vampire. "Are we watching the younger Buffy, Willow and Xander?"

"We are," Jack said just before the vampire was kicked into a tree branch and exploded in to dust.

They watched as Buffy turned towards her friends while asking, "Miss me?"

"We should return home and report that everything is all clear," Jack said. He then activated his device.

Saturday, April 13, 2013, in Washington D.C., two hours after sunset, Buffy and her group were returning to Amanda's house after receiving a call from Amanda about how Quincy was threatening to burn down her house if she didn't explain how he was no longer able to enter her home.

Amanda was at the door while attempting to stall Quincy in order to give Buffy and her group the time to return. When Buffy and her group were only a block away from the house, Kennedy, Amber, Nicole and Cat got out of the vehicle and approached Amanda's house from the rear.

Buffy waited a few minutes and allowed the others to get into position before she and Dean pulled up in front of Amanda's house.

Quincy saw Buffy and Dean getting out from the vehicle and blurted out, "Slayer! This is not over, Mandy."

Quincy leaped down from the front door and took off running towards the rear of the house. Knowing that he was running towards Kennedy and the others, Buffy half-heartedly ran behind him

By the time Buffy and Dean got to the back, Cat was knocking him to the ground with a kick.

"Way to go, Cat," Nichole said as everyone was gathering around Quincy.

Buffy was stepping up while saying, "Go ahead, Cat. He's your kill."

Cat was rearing back her stake to take the final blow when Quincy said while laughing, "I have a messaging for Buffy Summers from Lowkey."

Buffy grabbed Cat's hand that held the stake just long enough to keep her from staking him. She then said, "I'm listening. What's the message?"

"Dr. Briers works for him now," Quincy said with a smug laugh. "Demons were sent into the past to retrieve the remains of an old enemy of yours. Lowkey is preparing to resurrect him as we speak."

"What old enemy?" Buffy asked.

Buffy saw Quincy focusing on his own thoughts for a moment. He then laughed while saying, "He killed you and then you killed him. I wonder who will win the third go around in the next day or so."

"You're referring to the Master and I destroyed the Master's bones," Buffy said.

"You destroyed the skeleton belonging to someone," Quincy said while laughing. "The Anointed One wasn't the first one to the Master's gravesite to retrieve his bones."

"You can kill him now, Cat," Buffy calmly said. Buffy just stared at Quincy as she watched Cat ramming the stake through his heart. Quincy continued to laugh as he crumbled into dust.

"I'm sure Dr. Briers had to set off a time disruption so we should be able to go back and fix it," Kennedy said just as the dust was being blown away by the wind.

"I have faced demons like Adam and a god named Glory that were tougher to battle, so let Lowkey bring him back," Buffy said. "That teenaged slayer who was scared of the Master no longer exists. Now let's go inform Amanda that Quincy is dust and return to TEC headquarters."


	27. Chapter 27

When Buffy and her group returned to TEC headquarters, Buffy went directly to the door of Capt. Matuzek's office and knocked.

Dr. Easter was the one to open the door. When Buffy saw him, she hesitated for only a moment before saying, "I have news of Dr. Briers."

"Come in, Buffy," Buffy heard Capt. Matuzek say from within the office. When Buffy stepped in, she saw Jack and Claire as well. They were sitting in the visiting chairs across from Capt Matuzek's desk. Capt. Matuzek sat comfortably at his desk. "I hope you have good news for us."

"Unfortunately, just the opposite," Buffy said just as she stopped walking next to where Jack was sitting. When Dr. Easter re-closed the door, he faced Buffy while standing near the door.

Jack stood up and while gesturing to his chair he asked, "Do you want to sit?"

"I'm good standing… thanks though," Buffy said. Jack just nodded before he retook his seat.

"So what is the unfortunate news?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Lowkey had found Dr. Briers before we did," Buffy began. "A few minutes ago we caught up to that vampire that was manipulating Amanda in to doing things for him. Before we killed him, he gave me some disturbing and taunting news about how demons were sent back to my past to steal the bones of an old enemy of mine."

"What would Dr. Briers want with bones?" Claire asked.

"It was Lowkey who sent the demons to retrieve the bones and he took them to resurrect him," Buffy said.

"Resurrect what exactly?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"A master vampire known as the Master," Buffy said. "A few days ago when I told you four that I died in one of my early battles for a couple of minutes. Well the Master is the one who killed me. Lowkey knows this." Buffy glanced at Dr. Easter. "He's bringing him back to rattle me."

"Buffy, I think your younger self might have prevented that from happening," Capt. Matuzek said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy questioned. Jack described in detail of what he and Claire had witnessed. He even mentioned running into Angel. Once he was done, Buffy said, "I actually remember the day that you're referring to and I'm thinking that what you witnessed was a diversion."

"How can you be sure?" Claire asked.

"According to Quincy, there were multiple demons and they switched the skeletons," Buffy said. "Back when I was sixteen, I destroyed what I thought was the Master' bones while all along the Master's real bones was being moved to where Lowkey can get to them now."

"Great," Capt. Matuzek utter out. "We didn't pick up a major time disruption is because major events never really changed."

"So we'll go back again and this time we'll correct it," Jack said.

"No," Buffy was the one to say.

"Why not?" Claire asked.

"Well, the main reason is that I don't think Lowkey can resurrect the Master," Buffy said as she glanced at Dr. Eater. "I think Lowkey lacks the know-how. Of course I could be wrong though. And if I am, I'll deal when the Master shows himself." Buffy then pretended to be a little timid as she continued to say. "I beat him once, and I'm… I'm sure I can do it again. I'm sure I can. Besides, I want Lowkey to think that he doesn't have me intimidated, so I don't want to send anyone back to prevent the Master's bones from being stolen."

Buffy saw the skeptical look that Jack was giving her as Capt. Matuzek said. "I agree with Buffy of not sending a team back, but for different reasons. Anyway, Buffy, do you have any plans on how to locate Dr. Briers and that machine?"

"Nothing concrete yet, but we think that we might have an idea," Buffy said. "I don't want to say anything until I'm more certain. Meanwhile, my team and I will be available in case we have to rush into the past to save Jesus."

"It would be great if you did," Jack commented. "With the power consumption he would cause we could pinpoint his exact location."

"How far back can Dr. Briers send someone without it causing a power consumption that would alert us to his location?" Buffy asked.

"We're estimating that as to be 600 A.D.," Dr. Easter said.

"That's a relief. That means that the Watcher's council that bewitched the first slayer in 552 A. D will be perfectly safe from Dr. Briers and Lowkey," Buffy said while hoping that Lowkey was ignorant of when and how the first slayer was actually created and run with the idea of destroying the slayer's line like with most demons. "I was actually worried that Lowkey would find out about it and stop the slayer's line from being created, but since going back in time before 600 A.D. will alert us to the time machine location, I'm a little more relieved."

"The Watcher's council was the one to create the slayer's line?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, in 552 A.D. in Egypt," Buffy said. "It's all in the slayer's handbook… or so I've been told. I never received a handbook. Giles told me that in my case, the handbook wouldn't help."

"Why wouldn't the handbook help?" Dr. Easter asked.

"In my early days of being the slayer, I relied more on my instincts than on the written or verbal instructions," Buffy said.

"Okay, anyway," Dr. Easter began. "As far 600 A.D. as being the cut off point of how far back Dr. Briers could send someone without alerting us was just an estimate. It could very well be 500 A.D."

"Oh," Buffy quickly said. "Well, let's just hope that Dr. Briers or Lowkey don't get wind of this and try to end the slayer's line before it gets created. Anyway, that's all the news I have." She then looked at her watch. "Unless you have something, I'm going to go get something to eat."

"We're good here," Capt. Matuzek said. Buffy nodded before walking out. She had a slight grin on her face while walking away from the office.

After leaving the office, Buffy went looking for Giles first to let him know what was going on. After a short search, Buffy had learned that Giles had left TEC headquarters to meet up with an old friend of his. She then went to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. Also, because she didn't know where those mystical bugs were, Buffy didn't speak to anyone about what was said in Capt. Matuzek's office.

In New Sunnydale, it took Willow the entire afternoon to the early part of the evening to get the natural disaster claim filed. Willow, Dawn, Brody, Tabitha and Valerie were finally leaving the bookstore. While Willow was locking up and hanging up a sign that that read, 'close for repairs,' four vampires out to get even with Tabitha were walking towards them. All four were sired before their twentieth birthday. Two of them were showing their demon faces.

Dawn was the one to see the vampires and said, "Tabitha, guys with bumpy foreheads are coming our way."

When everyone turned towards the vampires, Tabitha said, "Oh look; Jolly Rogers and his new recruits."

"Jolly Rogers?" Valerie questioned.

"The one who's leading the pack is actually Patrick Rogers, but he has been going by Jolly Rogers since he was sired a few months ago," Tabitha said. "I call him Patrick though… mainly to annoy him. With Buffy's help, I dusted his girlfriend along with seven other vampires of his pack two weeks ago."

When Patrick's group stepped a few feet from them, Patrick said, "Slayer, I told you that we'll be seeing each other soon."

"You're not very bright are you, Patrick?" Tabitha questioned.

"Excuse me!" Patrick grumbled.

"You have met Willow, my co-watcher, before haven't you?" Tabitha questioned.

"I'll kill her too along with everyone else, slayer," Patrick said as he noticed Valerie giving him a stare as if she was trying to figure something out. "And what are you looking at girlie?"

"I can't sense you four," Valerie said while acting as if her stomach was slightly bothering her. "If it wasn't for looking straight at you, I wouldn't know that you were even there."

Valerie then heard Willow thinking, "That's why you were killed by a vampire in the alternate reality your first time out."

"What alternate reality?" Valerie questioned as she looked at Willow.

"Who said anything of alternate reality?" Patrick questioned.

Valerie gestured towards Willow while saying, "She was thinking it."

"I thought I figured out a way to keep you out of my thoughts without resorting to witchcraft," Willow said.

"What is everyone talking about?" one of Patrick's companions blurted out.

Tabitha said as she gestured to the corresponding person, "Besides being a watcher she's a witch with powerful mojo; Apprentice witch and charmed slayer with empathic psychic ability; Buffy's sister which you will be in a whole lot of trouble with Buffy over if you touch a hair on her head… should I continue explaining as to why you're not very bright?"

As the four vampires backed away, Patrick said, "This isn't over, Slayer."

"Seeing as you four are backing away, I suspect that it's over for the time being," Tabitha said.

"Shouldn't we be slaying right about now?" Valerie asked as she took one stepped forward.

The four vampires turned and ran off. Before Valerie could say anything else Willow said, "Let them go. Tabitha can take care of them later. Besides, we need to get to Washington D.C. as soon as possible."

"Plus does anyone have a stake?" Dawn questioned.

Tabitha saw that one of the boards that was covering one of the windows could be easily splintered and said, "I see one accessible."

Valerie immediately saw what Tabitha was looking at and said, "Hey, now that's imaginative of you."

"What's imaginative?" Brody asked as he looked without seeing what they were referring to.

Valerie gestured towards the board while saying, "A long sliver of wood can be broken off of that and used as a stake."

Willow grinned while saying, "What you just did is actually the sort of thing Buffy will be teaching you."

"Identifying what can be made into stakes?" Brody questioned.

"I'm referring about identifying potential weapons," Willow said. "You and I might see boarded up windows, cars and every day scenery, but get Buffy here and she could probably point out ten items in this area alone that can be used as a weapon." Valerie glanced around for more potential weapons. "Anyway, Tabitha, you should drive us to the airport."

"All right," Tabitha said before stepping towards her car.

As Valerie was walking to the car, she questioned, "Willow, I died in an alternate reality by a vampire?"

"I can't say with Tabitha present and until…" Willow was able to get out.

"How clear I can read your thoughts, you could just think of what you want to tell me," Valerie commented.

"Okay, first of all, you need to sign an non-discloser agreement before I can tell you anything and secondly, privacy is really becoming an issue with you so if you don't find a way to block out my thoughts yourself, I will have to resort to spells to keep you out and I really don't want to do that," Willow said.

"I'm trying," Valerie quickly said.

"That alternate reality occurrence, are you talking about the time when Xander was magically switched with himself of another reality?" Tabitha questioned.

"No," Willow said. "I do have knowledge of another reality, but I can't really say how."

"Some guy named Xander had switched realities?" Valerie asked while stepping up to the car.

"He did," Willow said as Brody followed Tabitha and Dawn to the driver's side of the car. "Amy, another witch that we know, actually done that to him with one of her wacky spells that went awry and I'll tell you about it during the ride to the airport. Before I start that story though, I would like to know if you felt anything when those four vampires stepped up."

"No, looking at them was like looking at inanimate objects," Valerie said as Brody was kissing Dawn goodbye. "I wonder why that was."

"Well, according to Buffy, the vampire's thoughts are there, but they don't reflect," Willow said as Tabitha opened her car door. "That's not what I'm talking about though." She then hollered out for Tabitha to hear. "Tabitha, what do you feel when a vampire is nearby."

"I get somewhat of a churning feeling in my stomach," Tabitha said.

"I actually did feel a stomach cramp when those four stepped up," Valerie said. "It went away when they left."

"Good," Willow said. "Remember that feeling. That feeling will alert you when a vampire is nearby."

Valerie said barely loud enough for Willow to hear, "Or it just happens to be that time of the month." Willow just grinned as she and Valerie opened their respective doors to get in.

At Angel's investigation, Alexis was there while keeping Faith and Ben company when Spike stepped in. Since Spike became human he took a job as a history teacher and an assistant basketball coach at one of the local high schools. He usually visited the crew of Angel's investigation once every two months; sooner if he would see a demonic activity.

Alexis recognized him as being the assistant basketball coach of a rivaling high school of her school.

Spike had already visited once two weeks before so when Spike walked up, Faith asked, "So what's the big bad this time, Spike?"

"Oh my God, you're Spike?" Alexis questioned. "You're the vampire that became human nine years ago?"

"And who might you be, Pet?" Spike asked.

"Oh, I'm Alexis Wilson," she said before telling Spike what high school she was from and how she would see him at the games between the two schools.

"Oh, your school's team gave my team a run for our money in the playoffs," Spike commented. "We only won by three points and if they'd done a few things differently I think your school's team would've mopped the floor with us."

"Spike," Faith blurted out while hoping to get Spike back on topic. "Are you here to visit or do you have something for us?"

"Right," Spike said. He then gestured between Alexis and Ben. "Is it okay to speak of things in front of them two?"

"You can talk in front of me," Alexis quickly said. "I know about things that go bump in the night. In fact, my dad is one of them… or was one of them. I think he's dead, but I'm not sure about that." Spike gave Alexis a confused look. "My mom's human and my dad was an echo demon."

"Ah," Spike just said.

"The new guy is Ben and it's okay to talk in front of them both," Faith added.

Ben went to shake Spike's hand while saying, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, mate," Spike said.

"So what's the sitch?" Faith asked.

"Well, as you know I live a few blocks from a good size cemetery," Spike got out before noticing an amuse expression on Alexis' face. "And that's funny because?"

"Oh, uh, I heard of how you used to live in a cemetery," Alexis began. "Do you live near one now to avoid becoming nostalgic?"

Spike ignored Alexis while facing Faith and saying, "Anyway, a good section of the cemetery cracked opened from last night's quake and I think something demonic came out of it. I don't know what it was. I didn't see it, but I think my neighbor did."

"What did your neighbor see?" Ben asked.

"Well, here's the thing," Spike began. "She has no memory…"

"Then how do you know that she saw something?" Ben asked.

"When I say that she has no memory, I mean she can't remember anything," Spike said. "Her mind's an empty slate. She's locked up at the hospital at the moment. She doesn't know how to communicate or the etiquette knowledge of going the bathroom."

"My god," Alexis said. "What can do that?"

"Wait, how can one tell that someone's mind was wiped?" Faith asked.

"The doctors done their tests on her while at the same time had re-taught her a few basic words such as chair, bed and drinking glass to only name a few," Spike said. "Her mind is fine; no brain damage which means she can relearn what was lost."

"So any guess what it could be?" Faith asked as Angel was opening the door to walk in.

Everyone paused their conversation and watched Angel as he was walking up. When Angel saw Spike he commented, "You're here again, Spike? What is it this time?"

Angel was noticing Alexis as Spike said, "Something crawled out of the cemetery near my house after last night's quake and wiped clean my neighbor's mind."

Angel gestured towards Alexis while asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Alexis Wilson. Faith helped me out with something this morning."

"Alexis? Are you the half echo demon I was told about?" Angel questioned.

"That would be me."

"So, any clues of what kind of demon could wipe a person's mind," Spike questioned mainly to Angel.

"A nomad demon," Alexis jokingly said. Everyone gave Alexis a curious look. "I'm joking. I'm referring to a Star Trek episode of when the nomad probe wipes Uhura's mind when it was trying to find out what form of communication that singing was. And no, I'm not the Star Trek fan. A friend of mind is. I would watch it with him."

"Well, let's hit the books and find out what this nomad demon is really called," Angel said. "Also Alexis in her ramble may be on to something. The demon might have taken the memories in order to learn."

Faith stood up while saying, "I'll go get the books from the back."

Before Faith had a chance to walk away, Alexis asked, "Can I help? I'm a fast reader."

"Does your mom know where you are, Alexis?" Angel asked.

"She knows I'm with Faith," Alexis said. "So can I help?"

"I don't want your mom upset with me for…" Angel was only able to get out.

"My mom won't be upset." Angel just gave her a skeptical look. Alexis stood up and as she gestured towards the phone, she said, "I'll call her now and you can ask her yourself."

"Okay, fine, you can help," Angel said.

"Alexis, you can help me to get the books," Faith said.

Without saying a word, Alexis followed Faith to get the books.

Angel, Faith, Spike, Alexis and Ben searched through the books for fifteen minutes when Dana stepped into the agency. When Dana stepped up and saw Spike her faced turned pale.

"William the Bloody!" Dana blurted out. She then closed her eyes and chanted, "This isn't real. You're not real."

Spike stood up as he questioned. "Are you okay, Luv?"

Dana opened her eyes and demanded to know, "Who are you?"

"Well, it hasn't been all that long ago when I was called the William the Bloody, Pet," Spike said. Faith stood up and walked towards Spike. "Are you okay?"

"You're Spike… William the Bloody," Dana began. She closed her eyes again. "You can't be though. Spike isn't real. You're not real. The character Spike was just a delusion of mine."

Faith stepped up while questioning, "Dana? You're Dana aren't you?"

"What in hell is going on?" Angel asked as he stepped up.

"Spike, I need you to leave," Faith said.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Spike questioned. "How does she know me?"

"Because she was once a potential," Faith answered. "She knows about you, because she dreamed of you. She dreamed of you killing those two slayers. Now you need to go before she comes completely unglued."

"Oh God; this isn't happening," Dana continued to say with her eyes closed and tears running down her cheek. Without saying another word Spike turned and walked towards the door. "This isn't happening. Not again."

Alexis and Ben had gotten up and stood slightly closer. They watched with a concerned look upon their faces as Dana continued to rattle off her sobbing chant.

When Spike left, Faith put her hand on Dana's arm while saying, "It's okay…"

Dana pulled away while blurting, "Don't touch me!"

Faith put her hand up in a surrendering manner while saying, "Hey, no harm; no foul."

"Dana, you're safe," Angel said. "Spike is gone."

"Spike isn't real!" Dana blurted out. "He never was. Oh, god I'm having a relapse."

"Dana, you're not delusional," Faith assured her. "You never were. Spike… William the Bloody existed and there was a reason why you dreamt about him."

"I didn't dream about him!" Dana screamed out. "I had nightmares about him!"

In a calm voice, Faith said, "I know, Dana. I had my share of nightmares too, but it wasn't about Spike. It was about other vampires. They started when I was fifteen. Yours started when you were fifteen too, didn't they?"

Dana wiped the tears from her cheek while asking, "How do you know?"

Faith gestured towards the table while saying, "Join me at that table and I'll explain it to you."

Dana stared at the table for a second before facing Faith again and nodding while saying barely loud enough to be heard, "Okay."

While walking to the table, Faith asked, "We have regular and diet cola if you would like something to drink."

Again Dana barely spoke above a whisper, while saying, "Diet would be fine."

"Alexis, you saw where the refrigerator was, so can you go and get a diet cola for Dana?" Faith asked.

"I'm on it," Alexis said before leaving at a quick pace.

When Faith and Dana sat down, Faith began by pointing out who was who to Dana before she went into the explanation as tactfully as she knew how to be. Angel and Ben just stood watching while waiting to jump in to lend a hand on a second's notice. Alexis was only gone from the room for a short time and after handing Dana the soda, she too stood next to Angel and Ben and just listened to what Faith was telling Dana.

Dana remained quiet, emotionless and focused solely on Faith while listening to what Faith had to say. Faith had told Dana about Angel being a vampire and how he was cursed with a soul by the gypsies. When Dana didn't move or make a sound, Faith told her everything there was to know about Spike including how he had kill two slayers. Faith saw that Dana's mind wandered for brief moments when she spoke of the two slayers' deaths.

When Faith was done explaining she paused for a moment before asking, "Dana, are you still with me?"

Dana moved her head for the first time since she had sat down towards Angel. She hesitated for only a moment while collecting her courage before saying, "If you're a vampire then change. Show me your demon face."

In a second, Angel changed his face. Dana slightly gripped tightly to her chair with apprehension as Angel said, "I drink pig's blood, so I'm no threat to you or anyone else."

When Dana saw the curious stare that Alexis was giving Angel she asked her, "You're hanging around here and you've never seen his vampire's face before?"

"Today is the first day I met Angel," Alexis said as Angel changed his face back to human.

"Alexis normally doesn't hang out here," Faith said.

"You lied to Bridget about why you were looking for me," Dana told Faith.

"Who's Bridget?" Alexis asked.

"I believe Dana was referring to the housekeeper, Alexis," Faith said.

"Oh," Alexis said.

"Dana, the only thing I lied to Bridget about is how Kennedy knows you," Faith said. "Everything else I told Bridget was true. Kennedy was asking about how you are."

Angel had a confused expression on his face as Dana asked, "Who's Kennedy and how does she know me?"

"Wait, isn't Kennedy dead?" Angel questioned.

"Okay, I was never told the long version of this story, but what I do know is that Kennedy is from an alternate reality," Faith began. Dana gave Faith a skeptical look. "A reality of where all the potential slayers throughout the world were activated ten years ago as full fledged slayers."

Angel grinned while saying, "I be damn. In another reality, Buffy and Willow did it. They activated all the slayers as they originally wanted to do against the First Evil in this reality."

"Apparently so and now Kennedy is in this reality to stay," Faith added. "Dana, in Kennedy's reality, you and her were good friends."

"Okay, first of all, I'm still trying to digest the fact that I'm a potential slayer," Dana quickly said. "And now you want me to swallow this bit of about alternate realities?"

"I know how unbelievable this sounds, but about fifteen years ago someone from another reality came to this reality once before," Angel said.

"Damn, you guys live interesting lives," Alexis said. "I couldn't work here could I?"

"You can't work here, Alexis," Angel said.

"Why not?" Alexis said. "I bet I would be an asset to you… like, like… oh I know. If you ever come across unidentifiable blood, I can identify it for you."

Midway through Angel's response Dana was slightly stunned when Angel said, "Alexis, I will admit that your demon half would have been helpful in the past for the exact reason you just mentioned, but no. You can't work here."

"Alexis is a demon?" Dana quickly questioned.

"I'm an echo demon on my dad's side," Alexis said. "I will shape-shift into a version of someone if I would come in contact with his or her blood."

"Alexis is a non-threatening half demon though," Faith added.

Dana gestured towards Ben while asking, "What about you? Are you a non-threatening demon too?"

"I'm just a boring human," Ben answered.

"Before walking in here, I thought I was too," Dana said.

"Dana, I can imagine how overwhelming all of this is for you," Faith said. "And my only goal was to check up on you in Kennedy's behalf. Dragging you into all of this was the last thing I wanted to do."

"Why did Kennedy want to know about me?" Dana asked.

"She really didn't say," Faith said. "She did seem to be genuinely concerned for your well being though. So when I call her, what should I say?"

Dana thought for a second before saying, "I would like to be the one to call her. There're things I would like to know about me in her reality."

"Even better," Faith said. "She doesn't have a phone, but she's with Buffy so I'll give you Buffy's number."

Dana pulled out her cell phone while saying, "Okay. Tell me what it is and I'll store it on my phone." As Faith proceeded to give Dana Buffy's number, Dana stored it into her cell phone.

Once Dana stored the number, Alexis asked, "Will you be calling her now or wait until later?"

"Alexis, this isn't your concern," Angel said.

"I know and I don't mean to be so nosy, but I'm very curious about how this turns out," Alexis said. "And before you say it, I know it's a flaw of mine, but satisfying my curiosity usually rules over my politesse. I am working to overcome that though."

Dana grinned for the first time since she walked in before saying, "I will be calling Kennedy later, Alexis. So, Faith, is there anything else?"

"Unless you want to learn more of the demonic world, I have nothing else to tell you," Faith said.

Dana stood up with her soda while saying, "It has been a pleasure meeting all of you, but I should go."

Faith stood up before saying, "Dana, if you ever need to talk, feel free to come back."

Dana nodded. When she hesitated to walk away she asked, "What exactly does this detective agency do?"

"Most cops don't know about demons and vampires," Angel began. "The ones who do couldn't stop them anyway, so most don't even bother trying. And that's where we come in. We protect the people from what the cops are scared to take on or can't handle. And like most detective agency, most of our clients are from people and non-threatening demons seeking help."

Dana grinned while saying, "I have to agree with Alexis that you live interesting lives… though I would like to add dangerous to that as well."

"It can be very dangerous," Angel said.

Dana nodded before saying, "Bye"

"Bye," was the chorus Dana received. She then turned and walked out.

Once the door shut behind Dana, everyone went back to searching for what kind of demon could wipe clean a person's mind.

Within a short time, Alexis flipped to a picture of a demon that she was reading about and blurted out, "My God, I can't believe I'm related to that. That's discussing."

"What's discussing?" Ben was the one to ask.

Alexis showed the picture while saying, "Look what an unmixed echo demon looks like in its natural form. To me it looks like a cross between a very large and hairy looking jellyfish and… well I don't what else it looks like, but it's discussing."

"Alexis, I completely understand why you want to know all you can about echo demons, but we are searching for a demon that can wipe minds," Angel said.

"Actually, after reading about unmixed echo demons, I think Spike's neighbor is dead and was replaced by one." She then read from the book. "Pure echo demon is a bi-gender demon from… from a dimension I can't even pronounce. All will produce a single larva once every three years and the larva has to feed on a carcass big enough to sustain itself for a period of one month. Adult human carcasses or large animal carcasses are excellent source of food for the larva. After one month it becomes that discussing thing I showed everyone. It can only survive in its natural form for seventy-two hours without starving to death. When it does feed, it has to feed on living creatures to survive. It will also take on the appearance in every way of whatever it eats; which is how it gets its name. When an echo demon feeds for the first time on a living creature, a human for an example, its mind will appear to be a blank slate, but it learns and adapts quickly. It can also consume up to two hundred pounds of meat and bone when it feeds which allows it to maintain the appearance for four weeks. It would have to feed more often if it feeds on smaller creatures. When an echo demon echoes a male gender of a creature, it is capable of impregnating the female of the same creature. An echo demon can get pregnant while echoing the female gender, but all this does is to cause a premature cycle of producing a larva. Pure echo demons usually live for two hundred years, while crossbreed echo demons live a much shorter life. Usually..."

"Alexis, does it say how to kill one?" Faith interrupted with.

Alexis skimmed through the text before saying, "Don't allow it to feed while in its natural form for three days; feeding it the blood of a Shrewron demon which is also from the echo demon's home dimension. The blood of a Shrewron demon will….

"We can't get the blood of a Shrewron demon so skip it," Angel quickly said. "Can anything else kill it?"

"Thoroughly cooking the regenerative organ will do it," Alexis said. "Oh, wow, a pure echo demon can re-grow a head, organs… other than the regenerative organ and limbs, but this will cause the echo demon to revert to its natural form much quicker."

"Does the organ have to be cooked or can it be chopped up?" Ben questioned.

"Well, the regenerative organ is protected by a perforated and impenetrable softball-size and shape enclosure and that is located in its thorax," Alexis said. "The perforations are only big enough for coarse hair-like substance to grow so thoroughly cooking the enclosure that holds the regenerative organ is the only way to destroy it. The hair-like substance will steadily grow as it attempts to regenerate itself and it will stop growing once it's dead. Oh and a person definitely doesn't want to come into contact with the enclosure with his or her bare skin while it's alive. If it does, it will feed and regenerate quicker."

"Any other useful information in there about a pure echo demon?" Angel asked.

"Well, pure echo demons are solitude and territorial demons by nature," Alexis said. "They can sense each other and because of this sensory ability they avoid each other."

"Does it say if a mixed echo demon could sense other echo demon?" Angel asked.

"It doesn't specify," Alexis said while looking at the book.

"Alexis, if you feel up to it, I would like to find out," Angel said.

"Before I answer that, does the echo demon have to die… if it is an echo demon that is," Alexis said.

"Alexis, pure echo demons are killers," Faith pointed out.

"Well, I know it has to be stop, but as far as I know this echo demon could be my half sibling or a cousin," Alexis said. "So couldn't we send it back to its home dimension?"

"In that book does it say how to open the portal to its home dimension?" Faith asked.

When Alexis shook her head, Angel said, "Alexis, opening portals with instructions are tricky enough, but to open a portal without instructions; well, that is practically impossible."

"So we can't send it back to his home dimension," Alexis commented.

"Alexis, if we are dealing with a pure echo demon, we can't allow it to kill again," Faith said.

Alexis took a deep breath before saying, "I know. I will see if I can sense it for you, Angel."

"Good," Angel said.

Alexis stood up while saying, "So, will be going to the hospital now?"

"We will and everyone is going," Angel said.

As everyone was walking towards the door, Alexis asked, "Do I have one of those regenerative organs?"

"From what I know, your heart is both the heart and the organ that allows you to shape-shift," Faith said.

"But my heart isn't encased by an impenetrable enclosure," Alexis commented almost as a questioned.

"No, it's not," Faith said as they were reaching the door.

As they were leaving the agency, Ben asked, "Alexis, what does the blood of a Shrewron demon do to an echo demon?"

"The blood prevents the demon from digesting what it ate," Alexis said. "Simply putting it starves to death in three days even though it's gorged."

"Interesting," Ben said while they walked towards the SUV.


	28. Chapter 28

At TEC headquarter, Giles had returned to headquarters and called a meeting. Buffy held Hunter on her lap and once everyone was comfortable around the table, Giles began with, "Earlier today I met with a friend of mine, Lawrence Stevens… Larry. Larry is a wizard… not a very powerful one, but one none the less. He worked for the watcher's council before leaving the council in 1995 after the death of his wife. His specialty was invoking psychic visions while looking into a mirror. After last night's quakes, he invoked a vision for the first time since 1995…"

"We know the quakes were the awakening of a new hell-mouth in southern Missouri," Kennedy interrupted Giles with.

"What opened up in Missouri and a few more points around the world don't fall under the definition of hell-mouths," Giles said.

"A few points?" Buffy questioned.

"According to Larry four of the areas with a quake last night had opened up a dimensional fissure…" Giles was able to get out.

"What's a dimensional fissure?" Kennedy asked.

"It a portal to where a large number of dimensions intersect," Giles said.

"Which means what exactly?" Nichole asked.

"At the point of each dimensional fissure nothing is separating dimensions," Giles said. "Which means unearthly demons and creatures from other dimensions can come through it at any given time as well as an unsuspecting individual from this dimension could find him or herself in another dimension in a blink of an eye with no clue on where they are or how to get back."

"Yikes," Buffy said.

Hunter leaned his head back against Buffy while mocking playfully, "Yikes."

Giles grinned at Hunter while saying, "I was about to say that you can say that again, but Hunter has taken care of that." Buffy just grinned. "Anyway this has happened before from time to time."

"So how do we eliminate these dimensional fissures?" Xander asked.

"We can't," Dean was the one to say.

"What you mean we can't?" Cat questioned.

"Sam and I know where one's at," Dean said. "It was discovered in the 1800's by Samuel Colt."

"Where's this dimensional fissure?" Kennedy quickly asked.

"It's in Southern Wyoming, but don't worry, it's contained," Dean said.

"How is it contained?" Buffy questioned.

"Samuel Colt built a vault around it," Dean said. "Its nickname is called the Devil's Gate. It's locked up tight and to make sure it stay that way, Sam and I check on it now and again."

"If it's locked up tight then why do you need to check up on it?" Amber asked.

"Because there are demons that know how to open it," Buffy said almost as a challenge for Dean to debate.

"Actually with the Devil's Trap in place demons actually can't enter that area," Sam said.

"Devil's Trap?" Cat questioned. "What's that?"

"It's actually a trap used by many hunters to trap demons," Giles said.

"Or in this case, it was used to keep the demons out," Dean said.

"But you do have legitimate concerns over the Devil's Gate or otherwise you wouldn't worry about checking up on it from time to time," Buffy said.

"A few years ago a demon did manipulate a group of individuals with certain gifts or talents to participate in an 'every man for himself' death match," Dean said. "The winner of the match was then manipulated further into opening the Devil's Gate."

Buffy looked at Sam while asking, "Does having dreams of demon attacks qualify one to participate in the death match?"

"I was one of the participants, but I wasn't the winner who opened the gate," Sam quickly said.

"You couldn't have been the loser, since…" Buffy got out before realizing the truth. "Oh."

"Oh?" Xander asked "What?"

Buffy cleared her throat before saying, "Let's see a show of hands if you were ever resurrected from the dead."

"Oh," Xander said as Buffy, Kennedy and Sam raised their hands. Hunter raised his hand just to be mocking the others. Buffy just grinned and kiss Hunter on the cheek.

"I wasn't exactly resurrected, but while being in a coma and slipping away to my death, my dad made a stupid deal with a demon for my life," Dean grumbled.

"What kind of deal?" Amber asked.

"He gave up his life and soul for mine," Dean said.

"Well, you made the same stupid deal with a different demon to bring me back," Sam said. "If it wasn't for tricking the demon the way we did, your soul would be in hell with our dad's soul."

"Making deals with demons for your soul, isn't very bright," Kennedy bluntly said.

"Perhaps not, but I wasn't about to let Sam die," Dean said.

"How captivating all this is, we need to get back on topic," Giles said. "Now Dean had pointed out what people had done in the past about closing a dimensional fissure. Since a dimensional fissure can't be close, a structure was built around it; whether it had been a Devil's Gate or by a pyramid."

"The pyramids in Egypt are covering a dimensional fissure?" Xander asked.

"One is and it's not really the entire pyramid," Giles said. "In fact it's a chamber about the size of this conference room. Anyway, since all of us are preoccupied with stopping Dr. Briers and Lowkey all of you may be wondering why I'm bringing this up."

"Well, I didn't want to say anything, but since you brought it up I am a bit curious," Xander said.

"Larry thinks that he can find all of the dimensional fissures while invoking his psychic visions," Giles said. "I'm going to finance that expedition along with assigning Eve, Bethany, Jessica and Cassandra to it."

"Wait!" Buffy quickly said. "You want to assign the Watcher's council's only charmed slayers-slash-watchers to the expedition."

"I do," Giles said.

"What about the fifteen potentials who those four watchers are training?" Buffy questioned. "You can't leave them hanging."

"They won't be left hanging," Giles said. "With the karate school opening I had planned to bring them here."

Buffy questioned in a tone as if Giles had lost his mind, "You want to put those particular fifteen teenaged girls on a plane in London and send them here?"

"I believe Kennedy was the one who pointed out that we do have karate instructors, so we should utilize those talents as classroom instruction rather than individual watcher-potential training," Giles said.

"Okay fine, I'm on board with this, but I don't want more than three potentials per plane," Buffy said. "The last thing we need is the plane being destroyed by… by god only knows how or what and we lose those fifteen potentials."

"I will call them after this briefing and let them know to split them up," Giles said.

"So once again we become potential-slayer central," Xander commented. "Any thoughts on how to house them?"

"There is a house for sale located not too far from here with enough rooms for them," Giles said. "I was going to look at it tomorrow or Monday and see what I can do about getting it."

"Financing expeditions and buying houses can become pricy," Cat said.

"It will definitely put us in a financial bind, but those dimensional fissures have to be found and covered up some how," Giles said.

"The potentials who are sixteen years old and older can get an evening job after school to help pay for things," Buffy said.

"What about their parents?" Nichole asked.

"These particular fifteen potentials are our rebellious potentials," Giles began. "All had run away from home at least once. Because of how rebellious they are their parents had entrusted us to make outstanding citizens of them."

"In other words, their parents relinquished their parenting rights to you," Dean said.

"Do you see how directly to the point that Dean said it with?" Xander questioned "I've been telling to him for years that he should use the least about of words as possible."

"Xander," Giles patiently said.

"I know, we don't have time for this," Xander said. "Please continue."

"That's actually all I have and I just wanted everyone to know what was up," Giles said. "Does anyone have a question or something to add?"

"How many potentials are there?" Nichole asked.

"That wasn't the type of question that I had in mind, but to answer your question there are hundreds," Giles said. "However, we only know the whereabouts of sixty of them."

"Are those sixty potentials at the Watcher's headquarters?" Cat asked.

"No; normally the watchers go to them and covertly train them in their respective cities," Giles said. "The rebellious potentials or the potentials with no homes are the one we house at the Watcher's headquarters."

"Since I was never trained, I guess, I was one of the potentials who were never discovered," Nichole commented.

"Actually, Nichole, you were train by one of our watchers, Paul Light," Giles said.

"Paul?" Nichole mocked. "Paul was the one who got me interested into boxing at the age of sixteen. He was my first manager."

"When I said that potentials were train covertly I meant that," Giles said. "Most potentials don't even know that they're being train."

"Why not?" Nichole asked.

"I made that rule," Buffy said. "I felt that it was better for the potential if the potential didn't know about it, unless she was chosen."

"I was never trained to fight," Cat said.

"You were nineteen when we found you, Cat and over the cutoff age to be trained," Giles said. "However, a watcher did monitor you for a few weeks and found that your street fighting skills were exceptional for no formal training."

"I have two sets of memories, but in this reality, my dad was the one who taught me to fight," Amber said.

Giles grinned before saying, "True, but like Cat, a watcher did observe you for a few weeks. The final report on you was that you were adequately trained to fight and didn't need a watcher. If we had known that you were fighting vampires on your own though a watcher would've been assigned to you. So any other questions?" Everyone shook his or her heads. "Okay, well, you're all free to go back to what you were doing before." There was a lot of noise as they were moving to get up.

At Dana's home, Dana had returned home and dismissed her nanny for the rest of the day. Her two sons had eaten supper and to keep them occupied until bedtime, she put in a movie to watch in the family room. Once the kids were engrossed with the movie, she got her cell phone out and dialed Buffy's number.

At TEC headquarters, Buffy and her group were leaving the conference room when Buffy's cell phone rang. Buffy was carrying Hunter and to answer the phone she handed Hunter to Xander. She didn't recognize the number and just answered it with a simple hello.

"Buffy? Are you Buffy?" Dana questioned.

"I am. Who are you?" When Buffy heard the woman's name, she said in a stunned tone. "Dana!"

"You're talking to Dana?" Kennedy quickly questioned.

Buffy nodded. A short time later she said, "She's right here Dana." Buffy held out the phone for Kennedy to take. "Faith mentioned you to Dana and now Dana wants to talk to you."

Kennedy grinned as she took the phone. When Kennedy put the phone to her ear, she said, "Hi, Dana."

"Faith told me that you are from an alternate reality; a reality of where you and I are friends," Dana said.

"That's right," Kennedy said. "I can tell you how I got in this reality though."

"I'm not concern about how you got in this reality," Dana said. "I would like to know about you… and the me from your reality."

"To tell you about me and the friendship I had with your alternate self could take hours," Kennedy said.

"I have hours to talk if you do," Dana said.

"Okay, but I'm on a friend's cell phone, so can I call you back on a land line?" Kennedy questioned.

"Sure," Dana said. She then told Kennedy what her phone number was.

"I'll call you back in a few minutes," Kennedy said. "Bye." She handed back Buffy's phone. "I'm going to use the phone in the office."

Buffy jokingly said with a grin, "Now bedtime is in one hour, young Lady."

"No!" Hunter quickly said.

Kennedy grinned while saying, "You tell her, Hunter."

Buffy grinned at Hunter. As Kennedy walked away Buffy told Hunter, "I wasn't meaning you, sweetie." She then looked at her watch. "Although, your bedtime is coming up soon."

"No," Hunter said in a playful tone. Buffy just continued to grin.

At one of the Los Angeles hospitals, Angel, Faith, Ben and Alexis had met Spike in the reception area. Spike then led everyone to his neighbor's room on the fifth floor. After everyone stepped into the room, Alexis didn't sense anything unusual, but everyone saw the disquieting look in the woman's eyes as she stared at Alexis.

Spike hesitated when he saw the look before saying, "Angel, this is April Downing. She understands a few words, but not enough to communicate with us. So, Alexis, can you sense anything about April."

"No, but the stare she's giving me, I think she senses me," Alexis said.

"We can't go by the stare that she's giving you," Spike said.

"Spike's right," Angel said. "We can't do anything until we are absolutely sure."

"I'm just going with what I saw in movies about someone being a clone, but perhaps we should check for scars," Alexis said. "Absent of scars might give us the confirmation that we need."

"Spike, where's April's family?" Faith asked. April would curiously look at the person who talked.

"They live out of state," Spike said. "I tried to get a hold of her sister, but I wasn't able to. I won't try again until we know for sure."

"How did you know that she was here?" Alexis asked.

"April had me down as the emergency contact and the hospital's staff called me when the cops brought her in," Spike said. "Oh and she was in the nude."

"How did the hospital's staff know who to call or who she was if she couldn't give her name?" Alexis asked.

Spike slightly sighed in annoyed manner before saying, "This was the second time in two weeks that April was at this hospital and the hospital's staff recognized her."

"Why was she here before?" Angel questioned.

"She thought she had an appendicitis, but it was food poisoning," Spike said.

"Too bad for us it wasn't an appendicitis," Alexis said. "We would've had a scar to look for."

"We can't do anything until we know for sure," Angel said. "Spike, if you would, I would like you to keep a watch on her."

"So I guess coming here was a waste of time," Alexis said.

"Perhaps not," Ben said. "Try to get a doctor to run an X-ray of her thorax. That regenerative organ has to show up on the X-ray."

"Dr. Jackson owes me a favor for helping him out a few months back," Angel said. "It's time for me to collect on that favor." He then turned and walked out.

"I'm going to get a soda from the break room," Alexis said. Faith nodded. She, Spike and Ben then followed Alexis out of the room.

When the door closed behind everyone, April got up, walked to the door, opened it and peeked out. When she saw that it was all clear she left the room.

Angel went to the nurse's station and inquired about Dr. Jackson. When he learned that Dr. Jackson was working, Angel had him paged.

As Dr. Jackson was responding to the page, he saw Angel standing with his back to him. He recognized Angel right away and stopped in his tracks with a slight dreading expression as he stared at Angel.

The nurse at the nurse's station saw Dr. Jackson when he stopped short. The nurse then gestured towards him while saying to Angel, "Here he comes now?"

As Angel was turning around to look, Dr. Jackson stepped up while saying, "Angel! So what brings you here?"

Angel gestured towards a quiet area of the hall, while saying, "Let's talk over there."

Dr. Jackson just motioned for him to walk. Once they were out of earshot of the nurses, Dr. Jackson said, "I know I owe you a favor Angel, but being a first year resident I can't do much to help you out with…"

"Relax, Dr. Jackson," Angel quickly said. "All I want is for you to X-ray someone for me."

"That's all you want?" Dr. Jackson questioned.

"That's it," Angel said.

"Okay, you don't have to come to me for that," Dr. Jackson said. "So that's makes me think that the someone isn't human."

"Actually, that's what we are trying to find out," Angel said. "That's why I want you to X-ray April Downing's thorax."

"April Downing?" Dr. Jackson quickly questioned. "The amnesia patient?"

"Yes," Angel confirmed. "I have reason to believe that she's not April Downing."

"And if she's not, what will I find?" Dr. Jackson questioned.

"Well, I'm thinking that it will appear to be a large round tumor on the X-ray," Angel said.

"Before I order that X-ray, do I want to know what April Downing might be?" Dr. Jackson questioned.

"I suspect that she's an echo demon and presently she's not threatening," Angel said.

"An echo demon is what exactly?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"A shape-shifting demon that takes the phrase 'you are what you eat' to heart," Angel said. "In its natural form it must eat live creatures to live."

"So this demon ate April?" Dr. Jackson questioned.

"Well, that's what I want to find out," Angel said.

"Alright, I'll schedule her for X-ray," Dr. Jackson said. He then hesitated to walk away. "If she is an echo demon, how soon will she revert back to her natural form?"

"When it completely digests what it ate… or who it ate," Angel said. "And I'm estimating that to be two weeks from now." Dr. Jackson nodded and walked away.

While Dr. Jackson went to schedule April for her X-ray, Angel went back to April's room. When April wasn't there, he got out his cell phone and dialed it.

When the phone was answered, Angel asked, "Faith, is April with you? She's not here. Where are you? It could've been possible that she understood what we were talking about and took off. Take Spike and do a sweep of the parking lot. Aright, Alexis can help to look too, but she's not to try to stop her if she sees her. Okay. Bye."

When Angel left the room, Dr. Jackson stepped up to him and said, "Someone will be here soon and take April for X-ray."

"April's gone," Angel said. "I think she understood what my friends and I were talking about and took off."

"So there's a demon running loose in the hospital?" Dr. Jackson questioned.

"My guess is that she will try to leave the hospital," Angel said.

"And how dangerous is she?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"She echoing a human, so her strength and weaknesses are human," Angel said.

"If that's the case, I'm getting the hospital security involve," Dr. Jackson then walked away. Angel walked beside him. "I'll get them to check their videos. She's in a hospital gown, so she couldn't get too far."

A short time later, as Faith, Spike and Alexis were stepping outside at the movement that an ambulance was rushing away with its lights and siren going. Alexis saw that the ambulance was making unusual flashing light patterns on its surroundings and turned to look at the ambulance's lights.

Faith and Spike were glancing around when Alexis spotted April clinging onto the roof of the ambulance as it was rapidly moving away.

"Okay, we'll…" Faith was only able to get out.

"She's there," Alexis quickly said.

"Where?" Faith and Spike questioned together.

"Look on top of that ambulance," Alexis said while pointing.

Three nuns were walking up behind them when Faith blurted out, "Damn it." When one of the nuns cleared her throat Faith, Spike and Alexis turned to look. "Oh, uh, please excuse my French, Sister… Sisters."

"I doubt that French is your problem," one of the nuns said.

"You should hear me speak it before you say that," Faith jokingly said. When the nun showed a disapproving look, she continued to say, "Okay, not as funny as it was meant to be."

"I've been told that I lack a sense of humor, so I'm sure it was funny… to someone," the nun said. She then glanced at Alexis. "Anyway, you should watch your… 'French' around impressionable children."

Alexis uncontrollably chuckled before quickly covering her mouth. The nun gave Alexis an unpleasant look. She uncovered her mouth to say, "Sorry."

"You're right, Sister," Faith said. "I will be positive role-model for now on."

The nun slightly grinned before saying, "Good luck." She then walked away followed by the other two.

When the three nuns were several feet away, Spike asked, "Alexis, did you sense April or did you just get lucky and spot her?"

"Neither," Alexis said. Faith pulled out her cell phone. "The ambulance's flashing lights didn't look right to me so I looked towards them to find out why."

Alexis' and Spike's attentions were drawn to Faith's phone conversation as Faith told Angel about April's get-a-way.

2:25 A.M., Sunday, April 14, 2013, at the TEC headquarters Buffy was awaken by the Marc Koebbe. When Buffy opened her eyes, Marc said, "A moderate time disruption occurred in Egypt around the year 550 A.D. It has to be Dr. Briers' doing."

Buffy showed a pleasing grin without thinking. She then quickly realized how her grin might have appeared if Lowkey was watching through Marc. She quickly lost her grin before saying, "And I was having a pleasant dream." She then sat up. "I'll be there after I wake my group."

Marc just nodded. As he was walking away, Buffy went to wake her entire group except for Hunter. She explained what was happening once everyone was together.

Cat asked while stretching, "Who are all going with you?"

"You, Nichole and Amber," Buffy said. "Kennedy; Dean and Sam, I'll need you three check for power drains in Ohio."

"How?" Sam questioned.

Buffy slightly shrugged before saying, "Watch the news or surf the internet. Get numbers to the power companies in that state and called around. I'm not really concern how you do it, but you guys need to find out if there were any power drains. If you do find one, you, Dean and Kennedy are to get to that city as soon as possible."

"I take it that I'm on Hunter patrol again," Xander said.

"At least until Dawn gets here," Buffy said. "Giles, if Willow returns before we get back, I'll need you and Willow to hunt down and eliminate those bugs. Oh, and according to Willow, Valerie is an amateur witch, so she might be able to help with the spells too."

"Right," Giles halfheartedly said while being preoccupied with a thought.

"You look troubled, Giles," Buffy said. "Are you okay?"

Giles grinned while saying, "Not troubled exactly. Something historical happened in Egypt around the time you're going back and for the life of me, I can't think what it was."

"Well, whatever it is, I'll make sure it happens," Buffy said before a thought popped into her head. "Unless it's not supposed to happen… anyway I'll make sure that history remains the same." Giles just grinned.

Once everyone was set, Buffy led Amber, Cat and Nichole to the wardrobe room to get dress in the appropriate garments. Everyone else went to the office.

During a hot summer day in a moderately size village of a farming community of Egypt, 551 A.D., a middle-aged man saw a shimmering vortex appearing before him. He quickly ducked down from sight near a short wall and watched quietly. Seconds later, he watched as four strange women, Buffy, Amber, Nichole and Cat emerged from it. The vortex immediately disappeared from sight.

The man watched as Buffy pulled out a device and scanned the area with it. After Buffy put the device away she and her group walked off into the opposite direction of where the man stood. The man then dashed away.

While Buffy and the other were walking, Cat asked, "Since there's no time disruption, does that mean we're too early?"

"Possible," Buffy said. "It could also mean that the demons sent back hasn't done anything to disrupt time yet."

"So what do we do?" Nichole asked.

"We'll patrol until something shows up on the scanner or until we see something that might relate to us," Buffy said.

"Does this patrolling include stopping to get something to eat?" Amber asked.

"I would love to stop to eat, but unfortunately we don't have currency or anything to barter with, so most likely we'll be hunting or picking berries later for food," Buffy said.

"Have any of you hunt before?" Nichole asked.

"I have a few times during the past ten years," Buffy said. "More so in Kennedy's reality."

"I've been fishing," Cat said. "Point me to a river filled with fish and I bet I can catch us breakfast…" Cat then gazed up at the sun. "Or lunch."

"Nobody's starving, so we'll familiar ourselves with the village before we go off hunting or fishing," Buffy said.

The man who saw Buffy and her group's arrival had walked to a moderate size farmhouse and banged on the door.

A slightly younger man opened the door. Before the younger man had a chance to speak, the older man said in the local language, "We need to summon the slayer."

"Demons?" the younger man questioned.

"I'm not certain, but four women emerged from a dimensional portal and people emerging from dimensional portals almost always bring trouble. I'll go and find the others. You stay here and prepare the summoning spell."

"Of course." The older man nodded and walked away.

Buffy and her group were casually walking around town while admiring the Egyptian's architecture. They were outside of a pottery shop when a crashing sound caught their attentions. When they turned to look, they saw a pre-teenaged boy fumbling his way to the outside as if it was pitch-black.

Buffy took off quickly towards the boy followed by Amber, Cat and Nichole.

They realized that the boy was blind before reaching him and as they were stepping up, they saw blood on his hands and clothes.

"Are you hurt," Buffy quickly asked.

The boy turned towards Buffy's voice while frantically rattling things off in the local language.

"Well, this is going to be fun," Cat commented while stepping up. The boy stopped talking. "We can't understand the natives."

The boy started rattling things off in the local language again.

Buffy and Amber realized that the blood didn't belong to the boy at the same time. Buffy was the one to utter out, "You're not hurt." She then faced her group. "Cat; Nichole, keep a watch on him. Amber, come with me."

"Shouldn't we come with you?" Cat questioned. "In case there are demons inside."

"All I'm expecting to find inside, Cat, is mutilated body," Buffy said. "And this just might be a crime scene and not anything demonic. Since Amber and I have experiences at not disturbing crime scenes I want you and Nichole to stay outside."

Cat understood why she was told to stay back. She nodded her head while saying, "Okay."

"Amber, let's go," Buffy said.

As Buffy and Amber walked towards the shop, Cat rhetorically asked the boy, "So have you live anywhere else before?" The boy just rattled off something in the local language. "That's good… I guess." Cat then saw Nichole shaking her head at her. Cat just shrugged.

Inside the shop, tables were turned over and potteries were broken. Buffy and Amber moved slowly through the rubble. Buffy gazed slowly over the room. Amber then spotted a back door and said, "The body might be back there."

Buffy turned towards the door while saying, "Let's check it out."

Buffy and Amber walked into the back room and immediately saw the slain body of a man in his fifties with his throat cut.

"This looks more like a murder scene than a demon attack," Amber said.

Buffy pulled out her device and looked at the reading before saying, "According to the scanner, we're standing in the vicinity of a time disturbance."

"So this is a demon attack," Amber commented.

"I don't know what or who killed him, but we have to investigate this scene," Buffy said. "So look around and make a mental note of the clues, Detective Chiu."

Amber just grinned before she started to look around. They looked around the room first. Once they made a mental note of everything in the room, Buffy began to examine the body. Within a short time, Buffy uncovered a tattoo of an unknown symbol from the man's left upper arm. Buffy gazed at it for a brief moment before she continued to exam the body.

Outside, the middle aged man who saw Buffy and her group's arrival was walking up to the pottery shop at the moment when Buffy and Amber left the shop. The man again ducked out of sight and watched.

When Nichole saw Buffy and Amber returning, she asked, "So is there a body in there?"

"There is," Amber said. "It looks more like a murder scene though."

"So it has nothing to do with us?" Cat questioned.

"I think it does," Buffy said as she saw three women in their mid to late twenties walking by. She then immediately rushed up to them. As she gestured for them to come, she said, "I realized that you three can't understand me, but I need you three to come with me."

One of the woman said with a cross accent of English and the local language, "I understand you quite fine, actually."

Buffy was surprised by the woman speaking English and said almost as a question, "You're English."

"No, my father is English," the woman said. "I was just taught the language. So why do you want us to come with you?"

Buffy pointed towards the shop while saying, "There's has been a murder in the house. A man's throat has been slashed."

The woman slightly gasped before uttering out, "Dear lord." She then turned towards her friends and rattled something off in the local language. When the two friends walked away, the woman said, "I told them what you told me. They're going to go get someone. I'm Aggie."

"Oh, I'm Buffy." She then gestured towards her friends. "My friends are Amber, Nichole and Cat. I don't know the boy."

Aggie grinned while saying, "The boy is Horacio."

"Horacio found the body, so perhaps you could let him know that everything will be alright," Buffy said.

Aggie nodded before walking towards Horacio. Once she stepped up to him, she spoke to him. Aggie and Horacio exchanged a few words before Horacio hugged Aggie.

During the hug, Aggie looked at Buffy while saying, "Horacio comes here each day to hear Tilon's exciting stories of demons. When Horacio came to hear the stories today, he tripped over Tilon's body while he was looking for him."

"Demons?" Buffy questioned. "What kind of stories would Tilon talk about?"

Aggie broke the hug between her and Horacio while saying, "Just heroic stories of extremely young girls being called upon to fight demons. These Sandmen need to stop filling these kids' heads with nonsense."

"Sandmen?" Cat questioned.

"That's what my father calls these men," Aggie said. "They actually call themselves the Dream-Casters. They claim that they can invoke dreams to anyone they wish."

Buffy thought for a second before asking, "Does these Dream-Casters know anything of the Shadow Men?"

"I don't know too much of the Dream-Casters," Aggie said. "My father knows more about them."

Cat saw six men walking towards them as Buffy asked Aggie, "Can I talk to you father?"

"Here comes some men," Cat said.

Everyone turned to look. When Aggie saw who were coming she said, "You four might need to answer a few questions first and then I'll take you to see my father."

"You'll need to translate for us," Buffy said.

"I won't need to," Aggie said. "One of men is my brother Ramsay. Most likely, he'll be the one asking you the questions."

"Okay," Buffy said.

When the six men stepped up, Aggie said, mainly to her brother in the local language, "From what I heard, I think Tilon is the man who's dead inside." She then gestured towards Buffy. "According to Buffy, the Tilon's throat was slashed. Buffy and her friends are English."

Ramsay told the five men, "Go into the shop and check things out. I'll talk to these four." The five men nodded before walking away. Ramsay then looked at Buffy while questioning in English, "So, you and your friends are from England?"

"Well, we're not from England, but we are from an English speaking country," Buffy said.

Ramsay grinned before saying, "Now that I heard you speak, you do have accent different than my father's accent. So tell me what you know of the murder."

"Not much really," Buffy began. "My friends and I were walking by when Horacio came rushing out from the house all disturbed. We went to his aid and saw the blood on him. We realized that the blood wasn't his." Buffy gestured to Amber. "So Amber and I went inside to see if anyone needed help. That was when we found the body. We then came back out. I saw your sister right afterwards and the rest you know.'

"You can't tell me anything else?" Ramsay asked.

"That's all I know," Buffy said.

Aggie said to Ramsay in the local language, "Buffy wants to know more about the Sandmen. I'm going to take her and her friends to talk to father."

"Why do they want to learn about them," Ramsay asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with men known as Shadow Men," Aggie said.

"Who are they?" Ramsay asked. Aggie just shrugged. "Okay, well, they're free to leave." He then spoke English. "You four lovely ladies are free to leave and welcome to our humble village."

"Thanks," Buffy said. The others just nodded with a grin.

"I'll take you four to see my father now so come with me," Aggie said.

After Buffy and her group left the area with Aggie, the middle aged man who was watching from a distance had walked up to Ramsay and asked questions about what had happened and about the four strangers.


	29. Chapter 29

A short distance from the farming community of Egypt, one of Lowkey's human looking minions had stopped walking thirty feet from a small farmhouse. He looked around. When he didn't see anyone, he changed into his demon's face, closed his eyes and stiffed the air. Once he was done, he changed back to his human face, stepped up to the door, opened it without knocking and walked in.

A nineteen-year-old man heard the door opening and went to investigate. When he saw the human looking demon standing in his home, he angrily rattled off something in his language.

The demon pulled out a long blade knife similar to the knife that Mayor Wilkins had given Faith and said, "I don't know what you're saying, but this house reeks of magic activity. For that everyone dies." The demon dashed towards the young man at an inhuman speed; grabbed him and held him tightly from the back. As the man attempted to struggle free, the demon slit his throat. The demon turned loose of the man and when he fell to the ground while bleeding to death, the demon went further into the house. Within a few minutes, the demon killed all five family members in the house and left.

Minutes after the demon had left the younger sister by four years to the nineteen-year-old had returned home and found her slain family. She quickly left the house in a slight hysteria and ran as fast as she could towards town.

At a farmhouse a mile away, Aggie led Buffy and her group into the field where a middle-aged man was working the field. The man was six feet, seven inches tall with a heavy beard. Ten other men between the ages of sixteen and forty were spread out throughout the field.

The man saw Aggie and Buffy's group walking towards him and stopped working. When the five stepped up, the man asked in English, "Aggie, who are your new friends?"

Aggie pointed to who was who while saying, "They're Buffy, Cat, Nichole and Amber. They're English."

Before Aggie could say anything else, Cat said, "We're from an English speaking nation anyway."

"Anyway, everyone, meet my father Manfred," Aggie said as Buffy was seeing a confused expression on Manfred's face.

"Is there anything wrong?" Buffy asked.

"Between the ages of fifteen and thirty, I had traveled to many English speaking settlements," Manfred began. "I'm good at identifying where someone is from by his or her accent, but your accent throws me."

"You've been traveling at age fifteen?" Nichole questioned.

"There isn't an age limit?" Cat added.

Manfred slightly grinned before saying, "At the age of thirteen I was able to grow facial hair and by the time I reached the age of fifteen I was taller than most men. So ..."

"So at fifteen, you were passable for a young adult," Buffy finished.

Manfred grinned before saying, "I was an orphan and I needed to eat so I joined a ship's crew leaving England. Anyway, where are you from?"

"Trust me," Buffy began. "You never heard of where we are from."

"Judging from your accent I'll say you're right," Manfred said. "So, Aggie, what brings you five here?"

"Buffy wants to learn more about the Sandmen," Aggie said.

"What do you presently know about them?" Manfred asked.

"Just what Aggie told us," Buffy said. "They are capable of stimulating dreams."

"They think they can anyway," Aggie said. "I also told them about how the Sandmen fill the kids' heads with those nonsense stories about demons and heroic young girls who fight those demons."

"Everything's true about the Sandmen," Manfred said. "I've seen a demon threatening this village."

"Father, are you sure that you were dreaming?" Aggie said.

Manfred smirked before saying, "The demon had killed eight people. Your mother while pregnant with you would have been the ninth victim if it wasn't for a young girl with amazing strength and speed showing up and killing it. Later, I found out that the Sandmen had summoned the girl."

"How did the Sandmen summon her?" Amber asked.

"From what I know, these heroic girls always follow their dreams that the Sandmen give them to hunt demons and there are Sandmen located in every village of where demons have been spotted," Manfred said.

"That's interesting," Buffy said. "Tell me, do you know if these Sandmen ever went by the term Shadow Men."

"That term doesn't sound familiar," Manfred said.

"How many Sandmen are there in this village?" Buffy asked.

Manfred shrugged before saying, "I only know three of them. Tilon… he's one and he told me once that there were more than ten in this village."

"Tilon is dead," Aggie said. "His throat was slit."

"Dear Lord; who would do such a thing?" Manfred asked.

"From what I hear of these Sandmen, I believe that they are the next generation of the Shadow Men and I also believe a demon was sent to this village to kill the Sandmen," Buffy said.

"Who are the Shadow Men?" Manfred asked.

"They are the ones who created the first slayer," Buffy said.

"First slayer?" Aggie questioned. "What's a slayer?"

"Slayer is the term that the Sandmen use while referring to the girl who fights demons," Manfred said.

"You four knew," Aggie quickly said while glancing between Buffy and her friends. "All this time the four of you knew everything that I was telling you."

"My friends and I know about slayers and the Shadow Men," Buffy said. "We didn't know about the Sandmen or their ability to give the slayers the dreams on demonic activities."

"How do you know about the slayers and not the Sandmen?" Manfred asked.

"I can't really answer that, but my friends and I are on the slayer's side," Buffy said. "I also need to talk to the Sandmen. I need to warn them that their lives might be in danger."

"By the person who killed Tilon?" Aggie questioned.

"I think Tilon was killed by a demon and Tilon was targeted," Buffy said. "The other Sandmen will be targeted as well."

"I only know two of the Sandmen members other than Tilon," Manfred said. "The other members keep their involvement a secret, but I will see what I can do about arranging a meeting between one of them and you."

"Thank you," Buffy said.

"Do you have a family name?" Manfred asked. Buffy gave him a curious look. "The Sandmen will want to know this. The more they know about you the more they will trust you."

"It's Summers. My name is Buffy Summers."

"They keep their meeting location a secret so they'll most likely want to come to you," Manfred said.

"We'll meet them anywhere they want," Buffy said.

"Good," Manfred said.

"Am I right to think that you and your friends currently have no place to say?" Aggie questioned.

"And you would be right to think that," Buffy said.

"I have plenty of room at my house, so you four can come home with me," Aggie said.

"I… we don't want to put anyone out," Buffy said.

"You won't be." Aggie then said in a slightly mournful tone. "I welcome the company."

"You live alone?" Nichole asked.

Aggie lowered her head before saying barely above a whisper, "Going on a full season now."

"You lost your husband?" Nichole questioned.

Aggie raised her head while breathing in the strength to say, "I lost my entire family; my husbands and four kids from sickness."

"We lost more than half our village," Manfred added. "Aggie and her mother, Shadya were in the next village while visiting Shadya's sister when the sickness came."

"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories," Nichole said. Aggie just politely grinned and nodded.

Cat saw that Amber was concentrating on a thought with watery eyes and asked, "Are you okay, Amber?"

Amber came out of her thoughts with a slight start. She then looked at Cat while saying, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Cat said.

"Hearing about how Aggie lost her family reminded me as to how I lost my parents and younger brother," Amber said. "It wasn't from sickness though, but it was all three at the same time."

"How did they die?" Nichole asked.

"In an…" Amber glanced at Aggie before she continued to say, "They were traveling and they just didn't reach their destination. I was sixteen when they died. My older brother became my guardian."

"Okay, that's quite enough talk about death," Aggie said. "If you four come with me, I will show you to my home."

Before Buffy and her group had time to respond, Manfred said, "Buffy, I will be done with my work shortly and then I will go see one of the Sandmen."

Buffy nodded before saying, "Thanks."

Aggie gave her dad a kiss on the cheek before saying, "I'll see you later."

Manfred just grinned and waved bye. When Aggie led Buffy and her group away he went back to work.

During the walk to Aggie's house, they crossed paths with Ramsay and the other five men again. The fifteen-year-old girl who saw her slain family was walking next to Ramsay.

When Ramsay saw his sister he walked up to her. He glanced at Buffy and her group for a moment before saying something in the local language. Aggie and Buffy's group could tell that the teenager had been crying her eyes out. Buffy and her group watched with a slight concern as Aggie spoke to the teenager and then giving her a hug. After the hug Aggie spoke to Ramsay again. Their conversation was short and when Ramsay and the five men walked away, the teenager stayed with Aggie.

While the men were walking away, Aggie turned towards Buffy's group. With a hand on the teenager's back Aggie introduced the teenager to Buffy, Amber, Cat and Nichole before saying in English, "Everyone, this is Helen. Her entire family was slain in the same manner as Tilon."

"My god," Cat uttered out.

"Aggie, do you know if Helen's family were members of the Sandmen?" Buffy asked.

"I seriously doubt it," Aggie said. "She and her family had recently moved to this village. Her dad is originally from Greece and her mother is from a village west from here. In fact, the village west from here is where they lived before moving here."

"Why would the demon attack Helen's family if they weren't part of the Sandmen's group?" Amber asked.

"Perhaps it's not a demon that's killing after all," Aggie said.

"I'm still convinced that we're dealing with some kind of demon," Buffy said. "There has to be a connection between Helen's family getting killed and the Sandmen. We just have to find out what."

"Well, in the mean time, Helen will be with us," Aggie said. When Buffy nodded they began walking again.

Aggie owned the third largest sheep farm in the region with two farmhands and the walk to her farmhouse took forty minutes. Once everyone entered the farmhouse, Helen went and lay on the bed. Aggie grabbed a long blade knife to slaughter one of her sheep for their evening meal.

Before Aggie was able to walk out, Buffy questioned, "Do you want any help?"

Aggie smiled while saying, "I could use the help with the sheep once it's dead,"

Buffy gestured towards the door while saying, "I'll follow you."

Aggie nodded before walking towards the front door. Buffy followed behind her.

At the Sandmen's council, eight of the sixteen Sandmen in the village were sitting in a circle in front of an apparatus similar to that of the shadowcaster apparatus. A silhouette figure that represented the slayer sat on a round track. A candle burned in the center of the track while casting a shadow on the wall. For a few minutes they were chanting the spell to summon the slayer through her dream. The silhouette figure suddenly moved on the track and rested once it reached a northwestern positioned.

The Sandmen were slightly thrown by it. They expected the silhouette figure to rest in a southern direction towards Africa. Africa was the last known whereabouts of the current slayer and a sudden directional shift meant that a slayer had died and another was chosen from the last time that they invoke a slayer's dream.

"We're summoning an inexperience slayer," One of them said in his native language.

"This changes nothing," The oldest Sandmen said. "Continue."

One of them nodded before he began sprinkling Calynthia powder several inches over the silhouette figure while avoiding the flame. The others recited an incantation while the one sprinkled the powder.

They reached a crucial point of the spell of where any sound could change the outcome of the spell. A golden cloud began to form over the silhouette figure and before the one sprinkling the powder was done, there was a hard knock at the door. The Sandman with the powder was startled and dumped a large amount of powder onto the flame; which sizzled like gunpowder. A black spoke was created and mixed with the golden cloud. The golden cloud changed to a more grayish color before emitting a flash of light that momentarily blinded everyone.

One of them uttered out in local language while rubbing his eyes, "Dear, Lord."

"What did we do?" the youngest of the Sandmen asked. "I mean, how will this affect the slayer?"

"The guardians are the ones who had forged this device with their magic and they had told us that if this would occur, then the slayer would forever dream of demonic activity on her own," the oldest Sandman said. "For now on, the slayer will be drawn to the strongest demonic activity wherever that demonic activity will be in the world."

"So we no longer have control over the slayer?" the youngest Sandman asked as there was another knock on the door.

The oldest Sandman was standing while saying, "We'll still be able to stimulate her dreams as we can with anyone, but our control over the slayer has been severely lessen." He then walked towards the door. "The guardians had wanted this from the very beginning and now it's done."

When the Sandman opened the door, Manfred said with his slightly poor pronunciation of the local language. "Leeto, I'm looking for Kiros."

"He's here," Leeto said as Manfred was noticing the smoke in the room.

"Did I interrupt something?" Manfred asked.

"You did, but it's too late to worry about it now," Leeto said as Kiros moved up behind him. "Come in."

As Manfred walked in Kiros asked, "What can I do for you, Manfred?"

Manfred saw the apparatus. He then looked at the faces of each person before questioning, "All of you are Sandmen, aren't you?"

"We're Dream-casters," Leeto corrected.

"Of course," Manfred said. "Were you eight summoning the slayer?"

"Manfred, is there something that you want?" Kiros asked.

"Four women had come to town," Manfred said. "They want to talk to a Sand… to a Dream-caster."

"Why?" Kiros asked.

"They think that all of you are being targeted by a demon," Manfred said. "They also want to know if you know anything of a group of people known as the Shadow Men."

"The term 'Shadow Men' hadn't been used since the beginning of the slayer's line," Leeto said.

"So at one time the Dream-casters went by the term Shadow Men?" Manfred questioned.

"Not at one time," Leeto said. "In the very beginning when the slayer was created to run the demons out of this dimension. As long as the slayer's line existed we had gone by the term, 'Dream-caster.'"

"How do these strangers know of the Shadow Men," one of the other six Sandmen asked.

"They didn't say, but they knew about them creating the first slayer," Manfred said. "Perhaps if you decide to meet with them you can find out how they knew."

"I'll meet with them," Leeto said. "Did you get their names?"

"The oldest one is Buffy Summers," Manfred said. "She seemed to be the one in charge. The other three were Amber, Nichole and Cat."

"Where are these ladies?" Leeto asked.

"They're with Aggie," Manfred said.

Leeto turned towards the others while saying, "Continue with the spell on summoning the slayer. Perhaps we'll get lucky and nothing else will fill her dreams tonight."

"Yes, Leeto," several Sandmen said.

Leeto faced Manfred again before saying, "Take me to your daughter."

Manfred nodded before walking out followed by Leeto.

A short distance from town at a small dwelling, a young and inexperience witch was practicing a very powerful resurrection spell on dead flowers. After reciting her spell for thirty minutes the flowers began to rejuvenate, but before it could complete the demon barged in.

The witch immediately sensed that he was a demon and made a botched attempt at rattling off a protection spell. The spell slowed the demon down enough for the witch to grab a staff that was within arm's reach. As the demon approach the witch, the witch swung the staff with her might while striking the demon hard against the face. The demon stumbled back slightly. He then changed into his demon face and went at the witch again. The witch was able to strike the demon five more times with little affect. The demon grabbed the staff from the witch and broke it in half before throwing the pieces to the side. The demon then grabbed the witch; pulled out his knife and slit her throat.

At Aggie's farmhouse, Helen abruptly woke up in a fright. She quickly looked around to re-familiarize herself of her surroundings for a brief moment. She then calmed down slightly, but how agitated she was from her dream she got up.

Aggie was cooking the sheep outside over a flame. Everyone was outside talking while helping Aggie when she needed it. When Helen wandered out everyone turned towards her.

"How do you feel?" Aggie asked in the local language.

"The same, but now with disturbing nightmares," Helen said.

"You will probably have bad dreams for a while, but it will get better; I promise," Aggie said. Buffy and her group just listened to the conversation without really understanding what was being said.

Helen crossed her arms and nodded before saying, "I dream that Fola had her throat slashed by a man… but the man's faced had grotesquely changed before killing her."

"It was just a dream," Aggie said.

"That's what," Helen said before getting slightly choked up with tears. She then closed her eyes to get control of her emotions before she continued to say, "My mom would tell me that for the pass few weeks when I would dream of fighting grotesque looking people. Each one of those dreams felt real. Watching Fola die felt real."

In a soothing tone, Aggie said, "I know. And you're not alone. You have me. I'll always be here if you ever want to talk."

Helen grinned and nodded. She then found a place to sit.

When nothing else got said, Amber asked, "Is she okay?"

"She will be." Aggie said. "The ordeal left her with nightmares, which is to be expected."

At the TEC headquarters, ten minutes after Buffy and her group had left, Giles Sam and Dean were making calls to power companies in Ohio. Kennedy was on the Internet while looking for the information of a power-drain that way. Within a short time they learned that there was a large section in the state of Ohio affected by an unexplained blackout. The area was as far north as Akron; as far south as Cambridge; as far west as Mansfield and as far east as East Liverpool. Canton, Ohio was the first city that was hit by the blackout, but only by a few minutes.

Just after circling the affected area on a map, Kennedy asked, "So which city do we start with?"

"I would suggest starting with the closest affected city to us and then moved out from there," Giles said as Jack was entering the office.

As every faced Jack, he said, "I was brief of what had happened and I've been assigned to help locate that time machine. So how can I help?"

Kennedy pointed to the map while saying, "We have circled the affected area on the Ohio state map. Now we have to check out each city as fast as we can."

"All we need is a means to do it," Dean said.

"Capt. Matuzek is preparing a helicopter as we speak," Jack said. "We should be good to go within a ten minutes."

"Good," Giles said.

"Can I take a look at the map?" Jack said. Dean picked it up and handed it to Jack. Jack took a quick glanced at it before he continued to say, "The time machine is in Canton."

"How can you be sure?" Dean asked.

"Did Buffy tell you about that vampire being sent back in time to Sunnydale when Buffy was sixteen?" Jack asked.

"She had briefly mentioned something about it," Giles said. "She said that her younger self had killed one of the Dr. Briers' vampires by chance."

"Well that vampire was a person two weeks ago and he was from Canton," Jack said.

"So you're basing your hunch of the time machine's whereabouts on the fact that a vampire was from Canton?" Kennedy questioned.

"We know that the time machine is in Ohio and one of the time traveling vampires was from Canton," Jack began. "Canton is basically in the center of the affected area…"

"It was also the first city that suffered a blackout," Sam added.

"What Sam said just confirms that everything is pointing to Canton," Jack said.

"Let's say you're right," Dean said. "Why did the other cities blackout?"

"I say that the other blackouts were caused by a cascade failure," Jack said.

"I do see why you are being drawn to Canton, but from my experiences mob-boss type demons have the tendency to steer slayers… or hunters to one area while their activities are elsewhere," Kennedy said. "So in my opinion, we should mark Canton off the list of possible cities."

"I disagree…" Jack said.

"Not really a shocker," Kennedy commented.

"Kennedy!" Giles uttered.

"I'm not going to stand back and keep quiet," Kennedy said.

"Kennedy, I respect you and your opinions, but I strongly believe that Canton is the place to start looking first," Jack said. "Therefore, I'm pulling rank."

"Okay, fine, but I want it noted somewhere that I'm against going to Canton," Kennedy said. "I'm not going to be blame for Dr. Briers getting away."

"Noted," Jack said. "I'll take full responsibility if we don't find them." He then gestured towards the door. "We should get going."

"Let's go," Kennedy said. She, Dean and Sam then followed Jack out.

In Egypt 551 A.D., at Aggie's farmhouse, Aggie was in the middle of cooking the sheep when Ramsay and three others walked up. Ramsay glanced at Helen for a second before saying in English, "There's been another death."

"Who?" Aggie questioned.

Buffy overlapped Aggie while asking "Was the person a Sandman?"

"It was Fola and…" Ramsay was only able to get out.

"Fola!" Aggie quickly said. Before anyone could respond Aggie turned towards Helen. "Helen, tell me about your dream with Fola and I want details."

Helen became uneasy before she went into details of her dream. Buffy didn't know what was being said, but she could tell that whatever Helen was saying, she was giving Ramsay cold chills.

When Helen finished Ramsay said in English, "I don't know about the part of Fola casting magic spells or the killer changing into a grotesque looking person, but that was a good description of Fola's death."

"What's going on?" Buffy asked.

"It appears that Helen had dreamed of Fola's death," Aggie said.

"Have she dreamed of other deaths," Buffy quickly asked.

"The only other nightmares she mentioned were about her fighting grotesque looking people," Aggie said.

Buffy grinned. She then saw that Ramsay had a good size knife strapped to his side. She held out her hand in front of Ramsay while saying, "Let me see your knife."

"Why do you want my knife?" Ramsay questioned.

"I have a hutch about something and I want to see if I'm right," Buffy said. Ramsay hesitated for a second before handing Buffy the knife. Buffy then walked twenty-five feet from the head of the sheep that was being cooked before facing Aggie again. "Tell Helen to come to me and take the knife."

Without really understanding what was being said in English, the three men just watched.

In a skeptical tone, Aggie commented, "Okay." She then told Helen what Buffy wanted her to do.

Helen hesitated for a moment before walking towards Buffy. Once she took the knife from Buffy's hand, Buffy told Aggie, "Tell Helen that I want her to throw the knife from back here and stick it between the sheep's eyes."

"She can't do that," Ramsay quickly said. "No one can do that."

"If I'm right about this, Helen can," Buffy said. "So please tell Helen to the throw the knife."

"Helen, throw the knife from were you are standing and stick it between the sheep's eyes," Ramsay said. Helen and the three men gave Ramsay a curious look. "Buffy, the woman next to you believes that you can do it."

Helen gave Buffy a look as if she was trying to decide on something. Buffy grinned before saying, "Tell Helen to trust her instincts."

"Buffy said to trust your instincts," Ramsay said.

Helen slightly grinned before turning away from Buffy. She stared at the sheep for a few seconds before preparing the knife to be thrown. She took a few deep breaths before rearing back the knife. She swung her arm in a swift and graceful throwing motion. The knife left her fingertips at a speed faster than even Buffy expected. Aggie, Ramsay and the three men had immediately lost sight of the knife. The blade twirled end over end several times before the blade of the knife sunk into the sheep's skull between its eyes. The only thing showing of the knife was its handle.

"What happened to the knife?" Aggie quickly questioned in English.

Amber was smiling as she said, "Look at Helen's target."

Aggie and Ramsey looked. Ramsey had even walked up to it to see it up close. As Ramsay pulled out the knife, Aggie asked, "How did she do that?"

"She done it because she is the slayer," Buffy said. Aggie and Ramsay gave Buffy a skeptical look. Amber, Cat and Nichole just grinned. Helen and the three men had a confused look on their faces as they didn't understand a word that was being said. "Going by Helen's age, the Powers That Be had recently chosen her to be the slayer. In fact that was why the demon killed her family."

"Helen's family was killed because she's a slayer?" Cat questioned.

"Not exactly," Buffy said. "I'm now suspecting that a crossmok demon had killed them."

"What's a crossmok demon?" Nichole quickly asked.

"A demon that can smell magic," Buffy said. "When a young girl is chosen as the slayer, it leaves her and the house that she was chosen in with an extremely strong magical pheromone. This pheromone never goes away, but it does become less prominent after a month."

Helen tapped Aggie's arm before saying, "I know everyone is talking about me. What is being said?"

Aggie gestured for her to wait before saying to Buffy, "Helen knows that she's being talked about and she wants to know what is being said. What should I tell her?"

"Repeat what I say to her," Buffy said.

"Okay," Aggie said.

Buffy faced Helen before saying, "Helen, you are a special and an important girl to the world." Buffy paused to allow Aggie to repeat what was said. Helen smiled after hearing it. "You have been bestowed upon the gifts, the power and the talents to fight demons, vampires and the forces of darkness. You are the chosen one; you are the slayer."

Before Aggie could repeat what Buffy wanted Helen to know, Ramsay said, "Tilon told me something similar when I was ten, but what he said was that, 'Into every generation a slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a chosen one. She alone…'"

"I heard it," Buffy quickly interrupted with. "So please tell Helen what I said… and what Tilon had said."

When Aggie and Ramsay told Helen everything, Helen gave Buffy a disturbed look before questioning, "This is a joke, right?"

"I think she's serious and seeing how you perfectly put Ramsay's knife between the sheep's eyes, I believe her," Aggie said. "I believe that you are the slayer." Aggie and Ramsay talked to and consoled Helen about the situation.

When Cat saw that Aggie's and Ramsey's attentions were on Helen, she whispered to Buffy, "Why did Dr. Briers send a demon back to this time to kill people who had something to do with magic?"

"It was Lowkey and he sent the crossmok demon here because I fallaciously indicated in front of Dr. Easter that the slayer was first created in Egypt in the year 552 A.D," Buffy said.

"So the crossmok demon was sent here to end the slayer's line before it got started," Cat commented. Buffy just nodded with a grin.

"Why make Lowkey think that the slayers were created in 552?" Amber asked.

"If Dr. Briers would send a demon into the past beyond a certain year, he would give away his position," Buffy said. "I hoped that the thought of ending the slayer's line before it was created was enough of an incentive for Dr. Briers and Lowkey to take a chance on giving away their position and it was."

"Now to ensure that the creation of the slayer's line is stop, the crossmok demon is killing everything magical across Egypt while starting with this village," Nichole commented.

"Exactly," Buffy said.

"Aren't the crossmok demons assassin demons for hire?" Amber questioned.

"They are," Buffy said.

"Where are they originally form?" Nichole asked.

"They were actually created through selective cross breeding in the Soviet Union during the Cold War era and they are also somewhat difficult to kill," Buffy said. "I never faced or killed any in our reality, but in Kennedy's reality I killed three of them."

"So how do we kill the demon?" Cat asked.

"Cut off its head or burning it will do it," Buffy said. "We also need a witch or someone that can perform magic."

"Why?" Cat questioned.

"The crossmock demon will be drawn to anyone performing magic," Buffy said as Manfred and Leeto were approaching.

"So you need someone to perform magic to lure it in?" Cat questioned.

"Exactly," Buffy said.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N I was thinking that I might have been making a mistake with the proper name of 'England' or 'Britain' in 500 A.D. I did a quick google search, but I didn't really find anything helpful on finding out. I probably should have done a better search. **

Buffy and her group had heard Manfred's and Leeto's footsteps. When they turned to look, Manfred pointed out who was who for Leeto to hear. He then said in English, "Buffy, Amber, Cat and Nichole, meet Leeto. Leeto is a Sandman; although, he prefers the term Dream-caster."

"Can he understand me?" Buffy asked as everyone's attention was on the two new arrivals.

"No." Manfred then told Leeto, "They can't speak the native language so I will have to translate."

"I can change that temporarily," Leeto said.

What do you mean?" Manfred asked.

"Observe," Leeto said. He then began rattling off an incantation.

"What is he doing?" Nichole quickly asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think he's making it where I don't have to translate," Manfred said as Leeto continued with the incantation.

Leeto was near the end of the incantation when Buffy questioned, "So he's casting a spell to where he can understand us when we talk?"

Helen understood everything Buffy said after the word 'casting' and said, "I understood you."

Buffy gave Helen a stunned look before saying, "Hey, I understood you."

"Of course," Leeto said. "For the next twenty-four hours, everything you say will be understood by all and everything you hear will be understood."

"I could've used that spell on a couple of occasions already," Buffy said.

Leeto grinned before saying, "I understand that you believe the Dream-casters are in danger from a demon."

"A crossmok demon is in town and is destroying everything magical so only the Dream-casters with the ability to create spells are in danger," Buffy said.

"I never heard of a crossmock demon," Leeto said.

"Well, they're not really from around here," Buffy said.

"I understand that neither are you or your friends," Leeto said.

Buffy gave Leeto a curious look before questioning, "What do you mean?"

"Diallo saw the moment when you four arrived in town earlier today before Tilon was killed," Leeto said. Buffy kept her poise while Amber, Cat and Nichole became a little nervous. "We thought that you four were the threat. We tried to summon the slayer through her dreams." Helen's attention had quickly peaked. She was about to say something, but Buffy shook her head for her not to. Leeto was a slightly distracted by the sight of Buffy shaking her head towards Helen. He continued to say with a slight hesitation, "However, Manfred had interrupted the spell just before we had a chance to complete it."

"You were casting a spell just before coming here?" Buffy quickly questioned.

"Yes," Leeto said.

"Is your group still where you were casting the spell?" Buffy practically demanded to know.

"They are," Leeto said. "I told them to continue the spell to summon the slayer to town."

"Crap!" Buffy quickly said. Leeto gave her a curious look. "A crossmok demon will be instantly drawn to anyone performing magic. Your group is in danger if they're not dead already."

"Oh god!" Leeto uttered out.

"You have to take my friends and me to your companions and now," Buffy said.

"You think that you four can fight this demon?" Leeto questioned.

"My friends and I are… we are demon hunters," Buffy said. "We track demons and kill them. We tracked this demon here; except when we track it here, we didn't know what kind of demon we were dealing with, but we do now."

"Everything is starting to make sense," Aggie said.

"Demon hunters or not, we need the slayer," Leeto said.

Buffy glanced at Helen before saying, "I assure you that my group and I are more than capable of handling a crossmok demon. I could use an ax though."

"I can get you an Ax," Manfred said.

"Okay, get me that ax and meet us at where Leeto's companions are," Buffy said. "Leeto, lead the way."

Before Leeto had a chance to respond, Helen asked, "What about me?"

"You are to stay with Aggie," Buffy said.

"What if this crossmok demon shows up here?" Aggie asked.

"Good thought," Buffy said. "Amber, I'll need you to stay back and watch over Aggie and Helen."

"Aggie, do you have anything like an ax?" Amber asked.

"I have long blade knifes," Aggie said. "They're mainly used to slaughter sheep."

"I'll get an ax to you too," Manfred told Amber. Amber just nodded.

"If this crossmok demon goes after anything magical then why would it show up here?" Leeto said.

"Helen is the slayer and since she was recently chosen, she reeks with magic," Buffy said.

Leeto quickly looked at Helen before mocking, "She's the slayer?"

"She is," Buffy said.

"Then she has to come with us," Leeto said.

"Helen is too inexperience and wouldn't last five minutes against the crossmok demon," Buffy said. "She stays here with Aggie and Amber."

"But if she's the slayer then this is her birthright," Leeto said.

"Her birthright maybe to fight demons, but it isn't for her to go on suicide missions," Buffy said. "Therefore, Helen stays here."

"You said that Helen lacks experience, but how do you expect her to get that experience if she doesn't fight demons?" Leeto questioned.

Buffy answered without really thinking, "Have it ever occurred to you to assign her a watcher and train her." She then realized what had happened and muttered not loud enough to be heard, "Oh god. This is how the Watcher's Council was created."

Leeto quickly questioned over Buffy's mumble, "What do you mean?"

"Okay, is there anyone from your group that is train to fight?" Buffy questioned.

"None of them were trained to fight, but I'm sure that they know how," Leeto said.

"Well you need to find someone with knowledge of fighting tactics and assign that person as Helen's watcher," Buffy said. "This watcher will train her to fight; assist her in battles and help to research on how she can kill a demon. And keep journals of her activities. It will help future slayers."

Leeto glanced at Helen before saying, "Okay, training Helen sounds good and all, but it would be impossible to train future slayers."

"Why would it?" Aggie asked.

"We might have lucked out this time and discovered that Helen is the slayer, but the next slayer won't be discovered so easily," Leeto said.

"Leeto, each slayer and potential slayer gives off a magical pheromone," Buffy said. "Of course a chosen slayer will give off a more powerful pheromone. And it just so happens that I know a locating spell that can locate those magical pheromones."

"If we can locate the slayer and potential slayers with a spell then creating a group of watchers to train these girls to fight just might work," Leeto said. "It would definitely increase their chances of survival while they face demons."

"Exactly," Buffy said. "And don't forget to keep journals of their activities."

"Okay," Leeto said. He then glanced at Helen before facing Buffy again. "You talk as if you know what you're doing so I'm going to trust you." Buffy just grinned. "So Helen stays here as you are strongly insisting while you and your friends fight this crossmock demon."

"Great," Buffy said. "I'm glad to hear that everyone is coordinated. Now lead the way."

Leeto nodded before walking away. Buffy, Cat, Nichole, Manfred, Ramsay and the three men followed. Aggie, Amber and Helen remained outside to finish cooking the meat.

Just after getting a short distance, Ramsay asked, "Buffy, does a watcher have to have certain talents?"

"A watcher just needs to be knowledgeable on fighting tactics," Buffy said. "The slayer will be the one to do the fighting. She just needs to learn how to fight."

"I know how to fight; in fact I'm the best fighter in this village and Helen trusts me," Ramsay said. "I want to be her watcher."

Buffy gave Ramsay a grin before questioning, "Any objection from the Dream-casters?"

Leeto slightly grinned before saying, "No objections. Ramsay, I've seen you fight and I think that you'll be the best choice to train Helen."

Cat patted Ramsay on the back while saying, "Congratulation at becoming the first watcher." Ramsay just grinned.

At the Sandmen's council, Buffy, Cat, Nichole, Ramsay, Leeto and the three men entered to find the seven Sandmen slaughtered with more carnage than with the earlier victims. The room was in shambles. Two of the three men quickly left and threw up immediately after leaving.

Cat winced at the sounds of the men throwing up as Nichole said, "These men didn't die without a fight."

"Were this all the Sandmen… I mean the Dream-casters?" Buffy asked.

"There are eight more," Leeto said.

"How many of them have cast spells before?" Buffy asked.

"Other than me; two," Leeto said.

"We need to find them and anyone else who can be considered a target," Buffy said.

"And what do we do after that?" Leeto asked.

"We have to get them all in one spot so my group and I can protect them," Buffy said.

"Follow me," Leeto said.

As Buffy and the others followed Leeto out, Buffy said, "We need to start with the next powerful person in the village who can perform magic."

"That would be me, but we'll start with who will be next after me," Leeto said.

Buffy and the others had only walked a short distance when Manfred met up with them again with a heavy ax.

At Aggie's farmhouse, Aggie's nineteen-year-old baby brother, Clifford was approaching the house while carrying a long handle ax.

Amber and Helen heard someone walking around on the opposite side of the house.

"Someone's walking around on the other side of the house," Helen worriedly said.

Aggie was stepping up next to Amber as Amber gestured for the two to be quiet. She then called out, "Buffy! Is that you?"

After a long delay Clifford stepped into view before questioning, "Who's Buffy?"

"Clifford!" Aggie angrily blurted out.

"What? I was told to bring this to you," Clifford said as he held up the ax. "So why you getting upset with me for."

"We thought you were a demon?" Helen said.

"A demon?" Clifford questioned. "Have the Sandmen been filling her head with their stories?"

"It so happens that those stories are true," Aggie said. "And you haven't heard about the deaths in the village?"

"I've been out fishing," Clifford said. "I just got home when father told me to bring you this."

Amber held out her hand for the ax while saying, "I'll take that."

"Who are you?" Clifford said.

"She's Amber," Aggie said. "And give her the ax."

As Amber was taking the ax, another set of footsteps began to be heard from around the house. Clifford saw Amber grasping the ax in a defensive manner.

"Expecting trouble?" Clifford questioned.

"Shshsh," Amber quickly said.

"What…" Clifford was only able to get out.

"Hush!" Amber and Aggie said.

"Okay," Clifford said as the demon in human face walked into view.

"Does anyone know him?" Amber questioned.

"No," Aggie said as the demon pulled out his knife.

"Everyone, run!" Amber exclaimed.

Before anyone could react, the demon dashed forward at an inhuman speed; however, Amber was able to match it. As the demon swung his knife towards Amber, Amber used the ax handle to block it. The knife stuck the ax near the ax end and cracked the handle while making the ax useless as weapon.

The demon kneed Amber in the gut before pulling back the knife. Amber was only slightly fazed and countered moved by elbowing the demon across the face. The demon immediately changed to his demon's face.

During the fisticuffs between Amber and the demon, Aggie knew that she, Helen and Clifford should run, but she stayed and watched. Helen was at Aggie's side. Neither Amber nor the demon had the advantage.

Within a short time Amber had knocked the knife from the demon's hands. The demon counter moved and knocked Amber to the ground. Before Amber had a chance to get up the demon kicked her hard in the ribs while breaking three ribs. The demon kicked Amber again while making her fly back a few feet.

Helen saw that Amber was seriously hurt. As the demon was about to strike at Amber again, Helen dashed for the knife. Aggie saw what Helen was doing as Helen was grabbing the knife on a run.

"Helen, no!" Aggie cried out.

Helen ignored Aggie and dashed full speed towards the demon. The demon turned to see Helen at arm's distance and before the demon had a chance to react, Helen sliced open the demon's throat. The demon dropped to his knees while grabbing his blood gushing throat. He then collapsed to the ground."

Amber got back on her feet as quickly as she could before yelling, "Helen, run! Run now! Everyone, run!" Amber quickly winced from the pain after yelling.

"I killed him," Helen proudly said.

"No you didn't," Amber said as she was slightly nudging Helen back. "All you did was buy us time to get the hell out of here. Now run!"

"But…" Helen got out before seeing the demon's arm moving. "Oh God!"

As the demon was slowing recovering, Amber, Aggie, Helen and Clifford took off as fast as they could towards town. Amber was limping and holding her side as she ran.

Helen still had grasped of the demon's knife as she ran slightly ahead of everyone. She glanced back at Amber while asking, "Why didn't that creature die?"

"He's a demon that can heal within a short time and the only way to kill him is to cut of his head or completely destroying him with fire," Amber said.

"So within a few minutes, his throat will be like I never sliced it open?" Helen questioned.

"That's right," Amber said. "Welcome to the world of demon fighting."

"Okay, I no longer want to be the chosen on," Helen said.

"Yeah, well, unfortunately the Powers That Be or whatever force that chooses the slayer doesn't give the chosen one a choice," Amber said. "Buffy is the best demon hunter though and before we leave, I'm sure she'll have helpful hints to make your demon slaying a whole lot easier."

"God, I hope so," Helen said.

"Where are we running to? Clifford questioned.

"Anywhere that's away from that demon," Aggie said.

"We need to find the others," Amber said.

Amber, Aggie, Helen and Clifford were running through the village for a short time when from at a good distance Helen spotted Buffy and the others walking towards a hut-looking building.

"There they are," Helen quickly said.

"Where?" Aggie asked.

"Helen pointed while saying, "There; by the candle shop."

Amber slightly squinted to see that distance before saying, "Damn, you have good eyes." Helen just grinned. "Let's go," Amber then hollered out, "Buffy!"

Buffy and the others were walking towards the candle shop. Buffy suddenly stopped before questioning, "Is someone hollering out my name?"

When Buffy and the others turned to look they saw Amber and the others approaching. Even from the distance between the two groups, everyone could see that Amber was injured.

"Amber's hurt," Cat said.

Buffy glanced back at Cat without saying anything and when Amber and the others stepped up, she asked, "What happened?"

"The demon paid us a little visit," Amber said. "I fought him and lost. I would've been killed if it wasn't for Helen catching him off guard and slitting his throat."

"You killed him?" Leeto questioned.

"No," Helen said. She held up the knife. "I got his knife though."

"You're the slayer; you were supposed to have killed him," Leeto hissed.

"She couldn't have killed him," Buffy said in Helen's defense. "The only way to kill him is to cut off his head and that knife wouldn't have done it."

"She ran from a battle," Leeto grumbled. "She…"

"A losing battle," Buffy quickly added. "You did the right thing, Helen. The first rule of demon fighting is don't get killed and you didn't."

"A slayer is not supposed to be a coward and run," Leeto retorted.

"It's stupid to make her face a more powerful opponent head on," Ramsay quickly said. Buffy gave him a grin. "And it's not cowardly to escape from a powerful enemy when ill equipped to fight that battle. She'll be better equipped next time."

"With this particular demon, there won't be a next time for Helen," Buffy said. "Once we get everyone together who might be in danger by this demon, we will create a spell to lure him in and my group and I will be the ones to kill him."

"Fine, have a go at this demon first," Leeto said. "Helen can go at him when he kills you four."

Buffy grinned while shaking her head. She then turned towards Amber and asked, "How hurt are you?"

"Fractured ribs mainly," Amber said.

"Okay, well, when we encounter the demon again you are to hang back," Buffy said.

"I was thinking the same thing," Amber said.

Buffy looked at Leeto and motioned towards the candle shop while saying, "Let's continue."

Leeto nodded before turning towards the door. As they walked towards the door, Aggie asked, "So did you get to the other Dream-casters in time?"

"We didn't," Ramsay said.

"They were all dead when we got there," Leeto added.

"Oh, god," Aggie uttered.

During the passing two hours, Buffy and the others had assembled the five people who were considered a target. Only three of them were Sandmen though. The other two were just villagers that had tinkered with magic. They were walking to Manfred's farmhouse to lay the trap, but midway there, the demon showed himself.

When the demon saw that he was spotted he stopped walking slightly less than twenty feet away from the group and uttered out, "First I'm getting my knife back and then I'm going to kill everyone with it."

"You know since you asked so nicely, I'll let you have your knife back," Buffy said while handing the ax to Nichole.

"What?" Helen was the one to ask.

"After all, Helen, it is his knife," Buffy said. "We should give it back."

"You can't be serious," Helen, Leeto, Aggie and Clifford uttered out.

"This demon is nothing; he's a sheep and we should treat him like one," Buffy said.

"He's a sheep that wants to kill us," Leeto said.

"Wait," Ramsay said. "Buffy's right. Helen, you should give him back his knife. To be safe you should throw it to him. And do it like you did mine earlier."

Helen grinned before saying, "Fine. You want me to give the knife back then I'll give it back."

She stared at the demon for only a second before preparing the knife to be thrown. She took a deep breath before rearing back the knife. As she did before she swung her arm in a swift and graceful throwing motion. The knife left her fingertips at the same quick speed as before, and also like before, the blade twirled end over end several times; however, the demon caught the knife an inch from his face.

"That was an excellent throw and a valiant attempt," the demon said. He then changed into his demon face and sniffed the air. "But I have speed faster than five slayers put together and pun intended."

"No offense, but you should really work on your puns," Buffy said. "Much like your face they lack intimidation."

"His face looks intimidating enough to me," Helen uttered.

"Trust me," Buffy said as she moved closer to the demon bare handed. "There are much scarier things out there than a crossmock demon and I faced them all."

"Impressive," the demon said.

"What's that?" Buffy said.

"You know what I am," the demon said.

"We're from the same period you moron," Buffy said.

"Lowkey sent you here?" the demon asked.

"Try the opposing faction," Buffy said. "Didn't Lowkey tell you anything before sending you here?"

"All I needed to know is the mission objective which was to destroy everyone magical I came upon," the demon said. "After that I did not care."

"Again, I'm going to have to go with you being a moron," Buffy said.

"Well, in a short time, you'll be a dead slayer and then we'll find out who's the moron," the demon said before he rushed at Buffy at an inhuman speed.

"Slayer?" Leeto uttered out as Buffy and the demon went to blows. He then gestured towards Helen. "She's the slayer."

Ramsay heard Leeto's remark and after seeing how well Buffy was able to fight, he couldn't help, but to grin.

Cat and Nichole moved slightly closer to assist Buffy, but as to how quickly Buffy and the demon were moving, neither one could find an opening. They decided to watch and only jump in at the first sign of trouble. Amber stayed back near the others.

Like with Amber earlier, neither Buffy nor the demon had the advantage during the fight. Their moves and counter moves were extremely quick.

While watching, Helen could tell that Buffy was mainly fighting defensively. Buffy had taken a few offensive strikes, but not very many.

To the demon's perspective the fight was long and steady. He was only used to the quick slaying and then moving on. For Buffy's perspective the fight was nowhere near long, so the demon was the first to tire and get sloppy. Buffy saw that the demon was getting fatigued. When the demon left his torso vulnerable, Buffy took instant advantaged of it and sent him flying back a few feet with a kick. As the demon was quickly getting back on his feet, Buffy was there to pound on him. The demon, stumbled back with each punch and kick that he was hit with. Buffy never gave him a chance to regain his footing and after taking several kicks and punches he fell to the ground dazed next to a hundred pound rock. Buffy quickly grabbed the rock and squashed his head with it.

"Yeah!" Helen joyfully yelled out. "You killed him!"

Buffy pushed the rock off of the demon before saying, "No; I didn't. He's just unconscious for a few minutes while he heals. The only way to kill him is to cut off his head or cremate him. Nichole, bring me the ax."

"That demon killed my family," Helen quickly uttered. "I want to do it. I want to cut off the demon's head."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Get the ax from Nichole and come over here."

Helen never hesitated to get the ax from Nichole. When she stepped up to the demon, she hesitated for only a moment as she gazed upon the motionless body. Buffy saw the primal force flickering in Helen's eyes just before she reared back the ax. She swung the ax again in a swift and graceful downward motion. Once the head was severed from the body, the head and body immediately imploded while leaving a tacky wet spot of where the demon had laid.

Helen was shocked by the sight and immediately asked, "What happened? Why did it do that?"

Buffy gave Helen an amuse grin before saying, "Some demons will do that. Vampires will explode into dust when you stake them. Those are the demons you don't have to clean up afterwards or find somewhere to bury."

"I'll be burying demons?" Helen asked as the others stepped up to see the tacky mess.

"You're the slayer," Buffy said. "You'll be burying a demon at least once a month if not more."

"Great," Helen sarcastically said. She then spotted the knife. "Oh, look. There's that knife."

"Take it," Buffy said. "It's yours."

"So it that it?" Cat asked as Helen picked up the knife. "Was that the only demon Lowkey had sent?"

"We'll stick around for a while to make sure, but I believe so," Buffy said.

"Lowkey had faith in that demon, if he was the only one," Nichole said.

"Lowkey did have faith in this one demon," Buffy said. "Lowkey was counting on us not knowing the secret on how to fight it."

"And the secret was to let him tire himself out?" Helen questioned.

Buffy gave Helen a grin before commenting, "You saw that?" Helen grinned and nodded. "You're right. No one can defeat a crossmock demon while attempting to do so. That type of demon is too quick and if you try to defeat one right away it will shred you to pieces. It has no endurance though. After a few minutes it will start to get sloppy so if you can keep from getting seriously hurt or killed within those few minutes you can defeat it."

"And I knew all that, but I forgot," Amber said.

"You weren't killed, so considered this a lesson learned," Buffy said.

"Oh, I definitely learned a lesson," Amber said.

"Good," Buffy said.

"Are we safe now?" one of the two villagers asked. "Can we go about our business?"

"I'm going to say yes to both those questions, but be alert for other demons," Buffy said.

Ramsay overheard as Leeto whispered to the three Sandmen who were standing around, "Before you three walk away, I would like to call for an assembly of all the remaining Dream-casters. We have a matter to discuss."

"I will go get the others," one of them said. "Where are we meeting?"

Before Leeto could answer Ramsay said, "At Aggie's."

Aggie heard Ramsay saying her name and quickly asked, "What?"

"The remaining Dream-casters are going to assemble and I thought they should assemble at your place."

"Why?" Aggie and Leeto asked. They both gave each other a curious look.

"Buffy, Buffy's group and Helen need to be a part of it," Ramsay said as Buffy and the others were focusing their attentions on what was being said. "And Helen will be much comfortable at Aggie's house."

"Ramsay's right," Manfred said.

"Except for my friends and I," Buffy said. Everyone gave her a curious look. "My friends and I are just strangers passing through."

"You're demon hunters," Aggie said. Buffy saw Ramsay holding his tongue. "You four are on the same side as the slayer, so Ramsay is right. Plus you were going to show how to locate potential slayers."

"Okay, we'll join your meeting, but once I'm certain that there are no more demons sent here we are going back home," Buffy said.

"I want you to show me those moves you did before you leave," Helen said. Buffy just grinned.

"I will go get the others," one of the Sandmen said.

"Bring all the magic supplies, the dream-caster and a few lamps," Leeto said. "It will be night soon." The Sandman nodded before he walked away.

"Well, if we're meeting at my home, I need to go home and clean up that charred mess cooking over the fire," Aggie said. "Hopefully it hasn't attracted wild dogs or other animals yet."

"Hey, you think any of that meat still good," Amber asked.

"If the fire went out within a few minutes after we left some of the meat might be good," Aggie said.

"Let's go find out," Amber said. She then glanced around. "Which way is it to your farmhouse?" Aggie grinned before pointing in the direction of her house.

Once everyone started walking, Ramsay stepped up to Buffy and whispered, "I was under the impression that only one slayer existed at a time."

"That's true," Buffy said. "Helen is that slayer."

"I believe the part of Helen being a slayer, but not the part of her being the only one," Ramsay said as he and Buffy fell behind the others while they walked.

"Well, I guess it always possible that there are a few slayers running around the world, but I have always been told that there was only one chosen slayer at a given time," Buffy said.

"It's more than possible and you know it," Ramsay said.

"And I would know this why?" Buffy asked.

"Because you're a slayer," Ramsay said.

Buffy slightly laughed before saying, "Okay, one I'm too old to be a slayer. A potential slayer can only become the chosen slayer between the ages of fifteen and twenty and the chosen slayer's life span is four years at best. And two, where did you get that idea?"

"You have the strength, speed and agility of the slayer," Ramsay said. "And you seem to be even more knowledgeable than the Sandmen about slayers and demons. I'm normally right about my hunches and I know I'm right about you. You're a slayer and apparently a good one too to live as long as you have."

Buffy slightly sighed before saying, "People can't know. As far as history's concerns I'm just a stranger passing through."

Ramsay hesitated before nodding. He then asked, "So how many slayers are there in the world?"

"The rule about there being only one slayer at a time is true, but like with all rules it can be broken," Buffy said.

"How?" Ramsay asked.

"Another slayer is chosen on the instant death of a previous slayer," Buffy said.

"Yes, I heard that," Ramsay said.

"Have you ever heard of or seen people die for only a short time?"

"I actually…" Ramsay got out before he realized what Buffy was hinting to. "You died before." Buffy just grinned. "That's why there is more than one slayer."

"Like Helen I was chosen at fifteen and at sixteen I drowned while fighting a vampire," Buffy said. "A friend of mine was there. He was able to revive me."

"Your three friends, are they slayers too?" Ramsay asked.

"The uncomplicated answer is no," Buffy said.

"What is the complicated answer?" Ramsay asked.

"They are potential slayers who were never chosen," Buffy began. "However, a friend, who is a powerful witch, charmed them to be slayers. They have all the strengths of a slayer without causing problems with the slayer's line and their deaths won't activate other slayers."

"That's interesting," Ramsay said.

"No one can know," Buffy said. Ramsay just nodded.


	31. Chapter 31

Half an hour before sunset, Buffy and the others were walking up to Aggie's farmhouse and found a fifteen-year-old boy and his twin sister caring for the sheep that was being cooked.

When Helen saw them, she uttered out, "Kasinda; Oringo, what are you two doing here?"

"We were told what happened to your family," Oringo said. "We came to see how you are."

"We found the sheep cooking over the fire and we didn't want it to ruin," Kasinda added.

"Thank you, both of you," Aggie said.

"It's done cooking," Kasinda said.

"If there's no objection by anyone, I say let's eat," Aggie said. "There's should be enough for everyone." Almost everyone said that they could eat. "Kasinda; Oringo, you two are welcome to join us."

"We have already eaten, but thanks," Oringo said.

Aggie nodded before telling everyone, "Give me a few minutes to prepare the meal."

"Do you need any help?" Buffy and Nichole asked.

Aggie grinned before saying, "That would be great." She, Buffy, Amber, Nichole and Cat then went to prepare the meal.

"I'm going to talk to Kasinda and Oringo," Helen said.

"Helen," Leeto called out. When Helen looked, he motioned her over.

"What?" Helen asked as she walked up. Ramsay wandered closer to listen.

Leeto said barely above a whisper, "Don't tell Kasinda or Oringo about you being the slayer or about demons."

"Why?" Helen asked.

"If people find out about you and demons it could cause complications and panic among the population," Leeto said. "So you must not tell anyone."

"Okay, I'll keep quiet about it," Helen said.

As Helen walked towards her friends, Leeto turned towards Ramsay and said, "She needs to keep who she is a secret."

"If you think that is best," Ramsay said.

"I do," Leeto said. Ramsay just nodded.

Helen talked to Kasinda and Oringo for a few minutes. Once everything was set inside the house for everyone to eat, Kasinda and Oringo left.

The conversation through the meal was mainly casual. Before everyone was done eating, the other Sandmen arrived. Two of them carried in magic supplies.

Once Leeto and most of the others were done eating, Leeto said to the group, "Everyone in this room heard of the Dream-casters, but not all of you knew who we were. I'm certain that people in this village think that we are people looking for attention by making up exciting tale of slayers and demons. Everyone here saw different today. Everyone here knows that demons are real. All of us even learned today that Helen is the slayer." Buffy saw Ramsay glancing over at her for only a second. "As Dream-casters we would normally communicate with the slayer through her dreams, but that had actually changed today. A misfortunate incident had happened while attempting to invoke the slayer's dream. The spell got away from us and for now on, we won't be able to communicate with the slayer through her dreams with the same effectiveness as we once did. Buffy, a demon hunter, has given us a solution to that problem. Instead of communicating with the slayer through her dreams, we will assign her a watcher; a mentor. This watcher will train her, advice her and perhaps given certain circumstances fight alongside her like a demon hunter. On this day forth, slayers will no longer be alone nor will they be learning how to fight on their own. Buffy, you said that you knew a spell that can locate potential slayers as well as the slayer. Can you show me that spell now?"

Buffy stood up before saying, "I will need a map. A world map would give a general location of them, but a local map or map of just the country can pinpoint their location more accurately."

"Aggie, do you still have those maps I had given Arthur?" Manfred asked.

Aggie stood up while saying, "I'll go get them."

As Aggie walked away, Cat asked, "Who's Arthur?"

"Aggie's firstborn," Manfred said. "He was learning the world from the maps before the sickness swept through this region."

Cat slightly bowed her head before saying in a mournful tone, "Oh."

Aggie was gone for a couple of minutes before returning with nine maps. Buffy had her lay them out on the floor as she picked through the magic supplies. Buffy took four types of powders, several candles and eight of the ten crystals from the supplies and then turned towards the maps. Aggie had laid the maps out to where the nine maps created a crude representation of one larger map of Europe, Africa and Asia.

As Buffy gazed at the map, Aggie said, "My father created it during his travels."

"You traveled all over," Cat commented.

"No; some of these maps were re-creation from other people's maps," Manfred said. "I just took what I knew and seen and put them all together."

"That's actually a nice map," Amber said.

"So where are we?" Nichole asked.

"Manfred pointed to a spot on the map while saying, "Right there."

"Okay, let's find these potential slayers," Buffy said. "One person can do this spell, but it goes quicker with two people. Since Amber knows it, she and I will perform it. Everyone else, just stay back and keep quiet."

Buffy handed the four types of powder to Amber. She then placed the crystals on the four corners that the nine-piece-map made and in the center of the four sides. Once the crystals were in place, she placed the candles around the map at no particular spot. After Buffy lit the candles, Amber poured a small portion of three of the four types of powder into Buffy's hands. Buffy thoroughly mixed the powders before sprinkling it over the map. Once Buffy was done, she and Amber chanted an incantation. Midway through the incantation, Buffy and Amber sprinkled the fourth powder over the map. A minute later random areas of the map glowed yellow and green along with every shade in between the two colors. The area that Manfred pointed to earlier had glowed bright orange. The four edges of the map had glowed a lime green.

When Buffy saw the areas glowing, she grinned before saying, "The areas in yellow are potential slayers too old to chosen by whatever powers that chooses them. The areas in green are the potential still young enough to be chosen. As a young potential slayer ages her green glow will slowing become a yellow glow with each passing month. The orange glow is where the current slayer is located."

"So that orange glow is me?" Helen questioned as Leeto counted the green areas.

"Yep, that's you," Buffy said.

"Why are the edges glowing the way they are?" Aggie asked.

"There are more potentials in the world beyond the borders of this map," Buffy said.

"There is land beyond this map?" Manfred asked.

"Apparently," Buffy said.

"Unknown islands?" Manfred questioned. Buffy just shrugged.

"We'll find out," one of the Sandmen said.

"No we won't," Leeto said. "There are enough potential slayers within the border of the map to keep us busy. We won't have time to find the potentials outside the map."

One of the three Sandmen who knew magic stepped up and questioned, "How do you clean up this spell?"

"Just pick up the map and blow off the powder," Buffy said.

"Why are you worried about that?" Leeto said.

"By slightly altering Buffy's spell, I think I can locate the demons," the Sandman said.

"Do it," Leeto said.

The Sandman nodded before proceeding to clean off the map. Once the map was clean he proceeded with his spell. Like with Buffy, he used the four powders, but his chant was slightly different. Within a short time, small light gray to large dark gray haze-like blotches were randomly scattered throughout the map. The large dark gray blotches were heavy demon activity and one of the largest blotches was centered over Ethiopia.

"My god!" Nichole blurted out. "Demons are that thick."

"It is," Buffy said.

"This area seems to be free from demons, but to the southeast and west from here, there seem to be demon activities," another Sandman said as Helen gazed upon the light gray blotch that was covering her father's native country. "More so to the southeast."

"So the crossmok demon didn't bring a friend," Cat commented as Aggie saw the absent expression on Helen's face.

"I was certain that he didn't," Buffy said.

"One or two demons may not show up on the map," the Sandman who conjured up the spell said. "So we can't really go by these results to know if there's another demon in the area." Buffy just nodded.

"Helen, are you okay?" Aggie asked.

Helen pointed to Greece while saying, "My father was from there. The gray spot isn't as large and dark gray as other places, but it seems to be filled with demons."

"Forget about going to Greece," Leeto said. "Ethiopia is where you'll be sent."

"I wasn't saying I wanted to go to Greece," Helen quickly said. "And you're sending me to Ethiopia?"

"You're the slayer," Leeto said. "Your birthright is to kill demons so you have to go where you can do the most good."

"Fine, I'll go," Helen said. She then turned towards Buffy and grinned. "Buffy, judging from the map, I could use some help."

"I would like to, Helen, but…" Buffy was only able to get out.

"She can't go," Leeto quickly said.

Buffy gave Leeto an annoyed glare as she continued to say, "But this isn't my fight. Helen, this is your fight and yours alone." Leeto just embarrassingly grinned. "Well, you won't exactly be alone. Ramsay will be with you and from what I hear, he's a good fighter." Helen just politely grinned and nodded. "Leeto, since I showed you the spell on how to locate the potentials, could I get the spell that you did earlier that allows us to talk to one and another."

Leeto grinned before saying, "Of course." He then proceeded to tell Buffy and her group on how to cast the spell. After Leeto gave Buffy the spell, he told the other Sandmen, "It's time to communicate with our fellow Dream-casters."

"How will you do that?" Helen asked.

"Through their dreams," Leeto said as he walked over to where the magic supplies were. "All of you are welcome to watch, but like before all of you will need to be quiet as we do the spell." He then pulled out the dream-caster apparatus and a three-by-five card-looking object with a symbol on it that mocked the tattoo that Buffy and Amber had seen earlier.

Before Buffy could ask, Helen beat her to it, "What is that symbol?"

Buffy just slightly grinned as Leeto said, "Dream-casters will carry this mark on their body. Once our spell is finish, every person who carries this symbol will dream the same thing. And that dream will be of me telling them of the formation of the Watcher's council."

"That's interesting," Buffy said while gazing at the card.

"How would you give dreams to other people?" Helen asked.

Leeto picked up a three-by-five blank card and said, "If the intended person has a distinctive mark you can re-create that mark on this card. If the intended person doesn't have a distinctive mark then someone with the talent at re-creating someone's likeness can sketch the intended person's likeness on this. Of course with both methods we take the risk of stimulating dreams to unintended individuals as well as the intended person."

"Again that's interesting," Buffy said.

"There are other methods to stimulate an individual's dream," one of the Sandmen said. "The dream-caster is actually designed to stimulate dreams of people who we have never met or someone that we're out of contact with."

"So someone with a distinctive mark, such as a unique tattoo is the best person to be given a dream?" Amber questioned.

"Exactly," Leeto said.

"I don't have any tattoos," Helen said. "How would you give me dreams?"

Leeto picked up the silhouette figure before saying, "We use this for the token to give a slayer her dreams."

"Dream-casters in other regions must have one of these devices as well," Manfred commented.

"Each of them do," Leeto said.

"How many groups of Dream-casters are there?" Helen asked.

"There are eight groups all together," Leeto said. "I don't know the size of the groups though."

"There are eight devices then," Helen commented. "Are they all the same?"

"All the dream-casters are, but there is another device similar to the dream-caster that has five sides," Leeto said. "We were told that it was called a shadow-caster, but we don't know what it does exactly." Buffy just slightly grinned. "The guardians forged that when they forged the eight dream-casters. The guardians even included a book with it. Our ancestors were told that the device was forged for a slayer in the far future when she'll face a powerful evil beyond anyone's imagination. The only thing required from us is to keep it safe and that it will reach the intended slayer through fate."

"Where is this shadow-caster?" Ramsay asked.

"The group of Dream-casters in Ethiopia has it," Leeto said. "Their village is very near an entrance to the Sof Omar Caves."

"To guarantee the shadow-caster's safety, it should go to the slayer," Ramsay said.

"Especially when it belongs to the slayer," Manfred added.

"It belongs to a particular slayer, but you two are right," Leeto said. "The current slayer should be the one to protect it. When she dies it will be passed down to the next one."

"When she dies?" Helen quickly mocked. "I'm standing right here and not liking this conversation."

Leeto gave Helen an amused grin before saying, "You'll die sometime even if it is from old age and when you do, the shadow-caster will go to the next slayer." Helen just smirked. "While the shadow-caster is in your possession though, you are not to open it. In fact, the instructions to all slayers will be, 'a slayer is never to open it with the exception of an extreme emergency.' Anyway, I would like to start this spell now."

Ramsay nodded while saying, "We'll be quiet."

Like with the earlier spell, Leeto and his group sat on the floor in a circle around the apparatus. Buffy's group, Aggie, Ramsay, Manfred, Helen and Clifford sat in the floor behind Leeto's group within a reasonable distance between them and remained quiet during the twenty minutes that it took for Leeto to complete the spell.

As everyone was standing up, Helen asked, "Will every Dream-caster dream tonight of your message?"

"Every Dream-caster doesn't wear the symbol on his body, but the ones who do will dream tonight including me," Leeto said.

"You'll dream of your own message?" Helen questioned.

"I should and if I don't, it means that the spell was done incorrectly," Leeto said. "Anyway, everything I wanted to accomplish has been accomplished, so it's time for us to leave."

"I'm staying with Aggie," Helen quickly said.

Leeto gestured towards his fellow Dream-casters while saying, "I was referring us."

"Oh," Helen said.

Leeto turned towards Buffy's group and said, "It has been interesting meeting you four ladies."

"I have to say it's been interesting meeting everyone here," Buffy said. "And come morning, my friends and I will be gone, so this is actually goodbye."

Leeto nodded as he and his group said, "Goodbye."

"Bye," Amber, Nichole and Cat said. Buffy just waved.

While Leeto and his group were leaving, Helen told Buffy, "You can't leave yet. You have to show me those fighting moves."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I think you should let Ramsay teach you what he knows. We'll even stick around long enough for me to watch you two."

"Okay, but I want your help too," Helen said.

"You might find that you won't need my help," Buffy said.

"Helen, I want to see how well you can fight before I proceed with any training," Ramsay said.

Aggie said in a stern voice, "And this will be done outside."

"It's dark outside," Helen pointed out.

"Light torches or wait until sunrise, but either way you are doing it outside," Aggie said. Helen just slightly smirked.

Ramsay grinned before saying, "Give me a few minutes to put out some torches, Helen, and I'll find out how well you can fight."

"Okay," Helen said.

"I'll help you," Manfred said.

"I might as well help too," Clifford said before following his dad and brother outside.

Without saying anything, Aggie went to clean up the house. When Buffy saw what she was doing, she asked, "Can we help with anything?"

Aggie paused at what she was doing before saying, "I've been told that I can be demanding when it comes to how I keep my house, so everyone might be better off not helping."

Buffy gestured towards the door while saying, "I… or we should probably go outside with the others and get out of your way then."

"It's fine if you want to, but you don't have to," Aggie said.

"If I'm not helping, I would feel like I'm in the way," Buffy said as she walked towards the door. Amber, Nichole, Cat and Helen followed. "I'll be better off outside."

"Okay," Aggie said just before Buffy and the others left.

Ramsay, Manfred and Clifford took the time to set up several torches to section off an area that was approximately twenty-foot by twenty-foot area.

When Nichole saw the area sectioned off, she slightly chuckled. When Cat gave her a curious look Nichole said, "The area they sectioned off is real close if not exact to the size of a boxing ring."

"A coincidence?" Cat questioned.

"Most likely," Nichole said.

"What's a boxing ring?" Helen asked.

Nichole slightly gave Helen a stunned look and hesitated to say, "It's an area about this size to where two fighters fight a contest."

"Is it a fight to the death?" Helen asked.

"No," Nichole quickly said. "It's just a short contest and no one gets seriously hurt."

"That fighting contest doesn't sound like much of a contest," Helen said.

"It's more of a contest than what it sounds," Nichole said.

"I'll take your word for it," Helen said.

Nichole grinned. Before she could say anything, Ramsay stepped up to Helen and said, "Okay, Helen. Step in the middle here and show me what you can do."

Helen grinned and nodded before walking towards the middle. Once she reached the center, she asked, "Okay, what do you want me to do now?"

Buffy and her group were standing just outside the edge of the makeshift ring. They weren't sure what Ramsay said when he told Helen, "Attack me."

"What?" Helen questioned.

"Did he just tell her to attack him?" Buffy questioned as Manfred and Clifford walked up to her group.

"I think so," Cat said.

Buffy turned towards Ramsay while uttering, "That's not—," Helen sent Ramsay flying back through the air two feet after being kicked. Ramsay landed flat on his back. She then trailed off what she was saying while cringing, "— a good idea."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Helen said while rushing to his aid.

Ramsay sat up before saying, "I'm fine." He then got back on his feet before hollering for everyone to hear, "I'm fine, everyone. The only thing that got hurt was my dignity."

Manfred was laughing as he called out, "Hey, Son, I think you should fill your shirt with hay before having Helen attack you again."

"Cute, father," Ramsay said.

"Father may have the right idea," Clifford said while slighting laughing. "But instead of letting Helen kick the stuffing out of you, she should kick the stuffing out of a scarecrow."

"Getting something for Helen to kick on and punch on isn't a bad suggestion," Ramsay said. "I'll work on getting one tomorrow. Until then, I'll be the attacker and Helen, you'll be the defender. Block my attacks and without really hitting me, show me your counter attacks."

"How do I counter attack without hitting you?" Helen asked.

"Go through the motions of hitting me, but stop or pulled back just before you do," Ramsay said.

Helen said in a skeptical tone," Okay."

"Oh this should be fun to watch," Cat told her group. "We should have popcorn."

Buffy gave Cat a grinned before facing Ramsay and Helen again. Ramsay threw a punch. Helen dodged it and countered attacked by kicking Ramsay at the bend at the back of the leg. Ramsay instantly went down.

"I'm sorry," Helen quickly said after seeing him hit the ground. "I thought I pulled back in time."

"It's fine," Ramsay said as he was getting up. "I'm fine." He then slightly brushed himself off. "Let's go again."

During the passing minutes, Ramsay threw punch after punch. Helen had dodged, blocked or countered attacked each one. The countered attack had followed a dodge or a block though and although she pulled her punches Ramsay felt enough of each one. When Ramsey realized that Helen was handling each of his punches with ease at a relaxed pace, he went all out. As Ramsay threw combination punches as quickly as he could, Helen countered each one at a faster speed.

"Helen certainly has the speed," Nichole said.

"Going with the knowledge of a world with hundreds of slayers at a time, Helen looks quicker than any slayer I've seen before," Amber said.

Buffy was about to respond when Helen got carried away and knocked Ramsay to the ground again.

As Ramsay was getting back on his feet again, Buffy stepped up and asked, "Ramsay, do you mind if I test her?" She then noticed a pleasing smile on Helen's face.

Ramsay rubbed his bruised covered arm while saying, "I could used a break."

"Buffy, I understand that you're a demon hunter, but are you sure you're a match for a slayer?" Clifford questioned.

"I'm actually a better choice to spar with Helen than Ramsay is," Buffy retorted. "No offence, Ramsay."

"None taken," Ramsay said.

As Ramsay walked to the edged of the makeshift ring to join the other spectators, Buffy told Helen, "I'm going to do what Ramsay did and with me you don't have to hold back. In fact, I don't want you to hold back or pull your punches."

"Okay," Helen said.

Buffy started at the speed that Ramsay had left off at and slowly increased her speed when she saw that Helen was able to counter her punches or kicks. Buffy was able to block and dodge most of Helen's punches and kicks, but some of those kicks and punches came too quickly even for Buffy and connected. Buffy was never too fazed by Helen's hits though. After a short time of sparring, Buffy was at her fastest speed and had maintained that speed for several minutes. Once Buffy saw Helen slightly getting sluggish, she put her hands up to break up the sparring match.

Once the match ended, Helen questioned with a pleasing grin, "I did good, didn't I?"

"You did excellence actually," Buffy said as Ramsay was walking towards them.

"So any advice you can give me?" Helen asked.

"As excellence you were, I have none to give you," Buffy said.

"By you being an experience slayer…" Helen was only able to get out.

"I'm a hunter; not a slayer," Buffy quickly corrected.

"Is there a reason you don't want people to know that you're a slayer?" Helen asked.

"Is there a reason why you think I'm a slayer?" Buffy questioned.

"Well, that demon called you a slayer," Helen began as Ramsay stepped up. "You fought him better than anyone I've seen fight before and you picked up that heavy rock like it was nothing. Put everything I've seen and heard together…"

"It spells 'duh,'" Buffy interrupted with.

"It spells what?" Helen questioned.

Buffy grinned and shook her head before saying, "Nothing. Helen, you're right, but people can't know about me."

"Why?" Helen asked.

"This is your time to reign as the slayer, not mine," Buffy said.

"Rain as in lightning strikes and ground getting wet?" Helen questioned.

Buffy grinned before saying, "No. Reign as in this is your time to be the only slayer in the world to fight demons and the darkness of evil."

"It doesn't have to be my time to do it alone," Helen hinted to.

"My destiny lies elsewhere, so yes, it does," Buffy said.

"Okay, but are you sure you can't give me any advice?" Helen asked.

When Buffy hesitated, Ramsay said, "I know you're looking for Buffy's advice, but what I see that you need the most is to build up your muscles. You might be strong enough to hurt me, but from what I saw, you barely fazed Buffy with your kicks and punches. I'm guessing you would be the same way with demons"

Buffy slightly grinned while saying, "My advice would be for you to listen to your watcher."

"Am I weak for a slayer?" Helen quickly questioned as the others walked up.

"You are slightly weaker than most slayers; however, some slayers will have an ability above average while another one of her ability is below average," Buffy said. "Uneven abilities are actually a rare occurrence… or at least it's not as obviously noticeable with most slayers, but it is noticeable with some and with you."

"Which ability do I have above average?" Helen asked.

"Speed and grace with slayers go hand to hand and with you that pair of ability is heighten," Buffy said.

"Therefore, while fighting demons you'll be using fighting tactics that utilize your speed, and between fighting demons you'll be exercising to build up your muscles," Ramsay said.

"Will I eventually become as strong as other slayers while exercising?" Helen questioned

"Sure, but you will have to exercise much harder than most slayers," Buffy said.

Helen grinned before saying, "I have no problem with that."

"Good," Buffy said. "Anyway, that's all the advice I can give you. And since my friends and I are leaving at first daylight, we should probably get some sleep."

"Getting some sleep is an excellent idea for you and me as well," Ramsay told Helen.

"Fighting Buffy did wear me out," Helen said just before a thought popped into her head. "So I guess endurance is another thing I should be practicing on."

Buffy grinned before saying, "See, you smart enough to know what else you need to work on, so you don't need me to advice you."

"Advice from a more experience…" Helen was only able to get out.

"Hunter," Buffy quickly supplied the word.

"Hunter," Helen mocked before finishing her original sentence. "Would be welcomed though."

"I really don't have any more advice to give," Buffy said. "So goodnight and if you're up in the morning I'll see you then; if not, then this is goodbye."

"Goodnight," Helen said followed by a chorus from the others.

Buffy and her group turned and walked towards the house. Ramsay, Manfred, Clifford and Helen stayed outside and broke down their makeshift ring.

At sunrise, Buffy and her group got up. Buffy decided to do one quick patrol around the village to make sure that nothing demonic occurred during the night. As they were preparing to leave the house, Aggie walked through.

"Are you four leaving?" Aggie questioned.

Buffy faced Aggie before saying, "We were going to walk around the village to make sure nothing happened last night. We'll be gone after that. And again, thanks for your hospitality."

Aggie grinned and nodded before saying, "If the four of you ever pass this way again, you are welcome."

"Thanks," Buffy and her group said before walking out.

Buffy and her group patrolled the village for two hours. Buffy was positive that there were no more demons and went to activate her device.

Ramsay and Helen were in the village and saw Buffy and the others stepping around a building. Helen ran full speed to catch up, but when she rounded the corner of the building all she saw was a speck of a distorted light that quickly vanished. As she looked around all she saw was the familiar surroundings.

"Where they go?" Helen quickly questioned.

Ramsay caught up with Helen and asked, "So where are they?"

Helen looked in every direction before saying, "I don't know. We did see them come back here?"

"We did," Ramsay confirmed. He then glanced around the ground for footprints.

"They could've just vanished," Helen said.

"I think they might have," Ramsay said.

Helen faced Ramsay while asking, "What? What do you mean?"

Ramsay pointed to a spot on the ground while saying, "A set of four footprints comes back here and stops at that point."

"With all the people walking back and forth through here how do you know that those footprints belong to Buffy and her three friends?"

"They are fresh footprints and as I said, they stop there."

"But how can people just vanish?"

"Buffy had told me that she knew a powerful witch, so perhaps she came and went by a magical portal."

"What's a magical portal?"

Ramsay grinned before saying, "A magical doorway that takes people to other dimensions or places. As with slayers and demons, I never believed that a magical portal existed before, but now; after learning that slayers and demons are real then maybe magical portals are real too."

Helen thought for a second before saying, "I do remember something being said about that demon being sent here. I wonder if the demon was sent here through one of those magical portals."

"Possible. Anyway, we should go get those supplies that we came for," Ramsay said. When Helen nodded, she and Ramsay continued about their business.

* * *

**A/N I had planned to make the next chapter into a summery of Helen's time as the slayer and show how the cruciamentum ritual got started, but while getting so far into the chapter, I decided to make it into a short story instead, so the next chapter to this story won't be posted for two or three weeks. **

**The name of the story will be 'The Formation of the Watcher's Council' (unless I can come up with a better title)**

**When I get finish writing it, it will be posted in the regular Buffy section. The Watcher's Council will be formed with Ramsay as Helen's watcher, but without Buffy going into the past to form it. **

**In the 'The Formation of the Watcher's Council' story, Helen is discovered as the slayer after Fola's resurrection-spell inadvertently resurrects more than dead plants. Everything after Helen going to Ethiopia and living the life as the slayer near the Sof Omar Caves was the intended chapter for this story before I went another way. **


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N If anyone is interested or haven't read it yet, I continued Helen's fate in Chapter 2 of my story, 'The Formation of the Two Councils.'**

In Los Angeles, Angel, Faith, Spike, Ben and Alexis had been following the onlookers' sightings of a woman dressed in hospital gown for a few hours. Not one was paying attention to the time and didn't realize that it was around midnight when they located the pure echo demon while it was appearing as April near a fenced in junkyard.

The demon saw Angel and the others approaching a half a block away and climbed over the fence and into the junkyard. Angel and the others got up to the fence in time to see four large Pit Bulls chasing the demon behind a pile of cars while barking and snarling.

"Okay, this isn't good," Angel said as the sounds of a small pack devouring its pray can be heard.

"Do we go in there?" Alexis asked.

"If you fancy yourself as the second course to those mutts then be my guest," Spike said.

Alex smirked at Spike before saying, "You do know that full breed dogs aren't considered mutts."

"They're all mutts if you ask me," Spike said.

"This isn't the time for this discussion," Faith said.

"So what do we do?" Ben asked just before a police siren momentary sounded directly behind them.

When everyone turned to look at the police car that was coming to a rest in front of them, Angel repeated, "Okay this isn't good."

They stood quietly and watched as the driver's door opened. Once the lone officer stepped out, he asked, "It's late in the night to be visiting a junkyard, isn't it?"

Before Angel could make up an excuse, Alexis quickly said, "My cat got loose from my arms and ran into the junkyard." The officer stepped up to them as Alexis continued to say. "Four dogs began to chase her once she was in there."

"If in deed your cat ran into the junkyard then luck will be the only thing that will keep her alive," the officer said.

"There are plenty of small hiding spots inside there for a cat to escape from the dogs," Alexis said.

"I supposed there is," the officer said. "Now it's not that I don't believe your story of your cat running into the junkyard, but I would like to see everyone's ID."

Angel, Spike and Ben pulled out their wallets while Angel was saying, "I'm Angel from Angel Investigations. The others are Faith, William, Ben and Alexis. Except for Alexis… who lost her cat, everyone works for me."

"I don't work for you," Spike added as the officer took Angel's business card and ID.

"Okay, William doesn't work for me, but he does help from time to time," Angel corrected as the officer looked over Angel's ID.

"I don't have my ID on me," Faith said.

Alexis raised her hand while saying, "I don't have mine either."

After a moment of looking at Angel's ID, the officer held out the items for Angel to take while saying, "Everything seems to be in order, Mr. Angel."

"It's just Angel," he said as sounds of yelping dogs were heard.

The policemen stretched his neck out to look before saying, "It sounds as if your cat is winning." Everyone then saw two of the four dogs running away with their tail tuck between their legs. "What kind of cat is it?"

"It's just a cat," Alexis said as another dog ran behind the two with its tail tuck between its legs.

"Okay, what is in there is not just a cat," the officer said just before he radioed for back-up and to get the owner down there to let them in without being attacked by the dogs.

When the officer was off his radio Ben said, "I have to say that I don't think Alexis' cat is why those dogs are yelping in fear."

"Angel, you're far from your office, so why are you and your group out here?" the officer questioned.

Angel quickly thought up of an excuse before he slowing said, "We were looking for Alexis." He then said normally. Alexis gave Angel a curious look. "She and her mom had a big fight last night and she ran away from home with her cat. Her mom hired us to find her."

"He… I'm mean they; they found me a few minutes ago and startled me when they called out to me," Alexis added. "That's when my cat got loose and ran inside the junkyard."

Ben held up his wallet for the officer to see while asking, "Do you still want to see my ID."

"Since I've seen your boss's ID I think I can pass on seeing anyone else's," the officer said. "I would like to get Alexis' full name and address though." Alexis nervously grinned before telling the officer her full name and address. After he wrote it down he told Angel, "Once we're through here, make sure Alexis get home safely."

"Absolutely, Officer," Angel said.

"And, young lady, no more running away," the officer said.

Alexis grinned before saying, "Don't worry. I learned my lesson."

"I hope so," the officer said. "I would hate to see you fall within the statistics of this city."

Alexis gave the officer the thumbs up sign before saying, "Me too."

The commotion inside the junkyard had subsided. The only sounds that were heard were the sounds of whimpering dogs.

"I'm going to attempt to see on the other side of that pile of cars from the far side of the fence," the officer told the five. "Everyone is to wait here."

Seconds later, when the officer stepped out of earshot, Ben questioned, "What do you think what happened in there?"

"It's obvious what happened," Spike said. "The dogs ripped the demon apart to the point that it had to feed."

"So one of the dogs is the demon?" Alexis said.

"Yes," Spike said.

"But which one?" Angel questioned as another squad car pulled up behind the first.

When the group turned to look, Faith sarcastically commented, "Tonight is getting better and better."

"Who is he," Alexis asked as a slightly heavy set officer stepped out of his car.

"Sergeant Allen York," Faith said.

Angel said while being hatefully facetious, "It's okay if you call him Alvin though as in Sergeant Alvin York."

"Screw you, Angel," Sgt. York said as he was walking towards them.

Alexis had a confused look while asking, "Who's Sergeant Alvin York?"

"Not him, that's for damn sure," Angel said with smugness.

"Before I arrest you and your crew, Angel, do you want to tell me what you are doing here?" Sgt. York questioned.

"He was hired to find me," Alexis quickly said. "Then I lost my cat. She ran into the junkyard. The other officer knows about it."

"Sgt. York," the first officer called out as he was walking back.

As the two officers approached each other, Alexis asked again, "Who's Sergeant Alvin York?"

"Doesn't your bloody high school teach you history?" Spike quickly asked. "If you were one of my students coming to me while asking about him, I would make you look him up on the website and write a short assay on him."

Alexis smirked before saying, "Well, I'm not one of your students. So who is he?"

"He was an American war hero from WWI," Spike finally answered. "He captured over a hundred Germans."

"I thought we fought the Germans in WWII?" Alexis facetious asked. When Spike shot her a slightly disquieting look she laughed. "I know we fought the Germans in both wars. In fact I think Adolf Hitler was a corporal in WWI."

"At least they're teaching you something at your high school," Spike commented.

Alexis smirked as Faith uttered, "Guys! We have more important things to worry about than what Alexis learned in history class."

"What do we do now?" Alexis asked.

"Well, we can't just leave," Faith said.

"Faith's right," Angel said. "We can't leave and let the demon get away. So far now, we'll just wait and be patient." Alexis just nodded.

At TEC headquarters, Buffy, Amber, Nichole and Cat never bothered to changed clothes once they returned and left the embarking room to go to the office.

Giles was leaving the men's room as Buffy and the others came through the hall. When Giles turned towards the group, Buffy quickly asked from a slight distance, "So what the sitch? Did Dr. Briers give up his position?"

"We have narrowed our search between several northeastern cities in Ohio," Giles said as Buffy and the others stepped up.

"Is everyone in the office?" Buffy asked.

"No; they're on a helicopter while on their way to Canton, Ohio with Jack to search for the time-machine," Giles despairingly said.

Buffy gave Giles a curious look before saying, "You say it as if they're going to the wrong city."

"I actually have no clue to which city is the right one, but Kennedy believes that it's the wrong one," Giles said.

"Who's idea for them to go to Canton?" Nichole asked.

"Jack was sure that it was there," Giles said.

Buffy quickly crossed her arms as she asked, "Why?"

"Several Ohio cities had blacked out and Canton was the first to go," Giles said. "We at this facility think that the blackout was caused by the time-machine being used. Canton is also where that vampire was from that your younger self had dusted."

"What city does Kennedy thinks it's in?" Buffy questioned.

"She doesn't know, but she thinks Canton was a ruse," Giles said.

"Do you have a list of cities affected by the blackout?" Buffy asked.

"Come and I'll show you the affect area from the internet," Giles said. Buffy gave Giles a nod before everyone walked towards the office.

Giles walked into the office first followed by Buffy and then the others. Giles went directly to the computer and pulled up the internet. Within a few clicks of the mouse, a map of Ohio was being displayed. Giles used his finger to point out the affected area.

Nichole saw Buffy focusing her eyes at one spot of the map and questioned, "Buffy?"

Without taking her eye of the spot on the map, Buffy said, "Kennedy is right. Canton is not where the time-machine is at." She then turned from the computer and went directly for the phone.

"Do you see something, Buffy?" Giles asked.

"I do," Buffy said as she picked up the handset to the phone and dialed a number.

"What is it that you see?" Cat asked.

Buffy put her finger up to motion for Cat to wait as she said, "Capt. Matuzek, you need to get a hold of your pilot and tell them to change course for Coshocton, Ohio. That's where the time-machine will be." There was a brief pause. "Thursday night Dr. Briers had knocked out a security guard and stolen a utility truck from an electric company from the city of Coshocton. There's an Amish community north from there which explains a dream I had about two vampires rampaging through a town with no electricity or cars. Capt. Matuzek, this is more than a hunch… Captain, I understand that, but… I can tell you right now that the time-machine won't be found in Canton. Bye."

When Buffy hung up the phone Giles questioned, "Capt. Matuzek won't inform the pilot to change course for Coshocton, Ohio?"

"No, but he will make it the second city to be searched if the search in Canton, Oh doesn't panned out," Buffy said.

"Is there anyway that we can get to Coshocton?" Amber asked.

"Not anytime soon," Giles asked.

"Dr. Briers is not sending any more of his minions into the past anytime soon so we'll let Kennedy and Jack's group handle it," Buffy said before she again picked up the handset to the phone. "In the meantime, I'll find out where Willow is at." There was a short pause after dialing the phone. "Willow, it's Buffy. How much longer will you be?"

In Los Angeles, Angel's group and five police officers were standing around as the owner of the junkyard was opening the gate to the yard. Before anyone had a chance to prepare, the demon as a dog ran out through the open gate at full speed.

"Stop!" the owner ordered the dog to do. The demon continued to run up the street without breaking a stride. "Stop!"

Sgt. York and two other officers drew their pistols and fired several rounds at the demon. Although the demon was hit and began leaving a blood trail it never slowed down.

"That's one tough junkyard dog," Alexis said.

Sgt. York turned towards Angel before asking, "Would you like to tell me the truth of why you and your crew are here?"

"We told you," Angel said as the owner went into the yard to pen the dogs in.

"Here's the thing," Sgt. York began. "Every time I see you and your crew, you people are always in the thick of a bizarre situation. So excuse me if I don't believe you."

"And yet, you can't seem to tell me more than, 'this isn't normal' as a description of the situation," Angel said. "If you ask me, perhaps you should talk to a therapist."

"I'm going to find out the truth and when I do, I'm busting you and your crew," Sgt. York said.

Angel gave Sgt. York a smug grin before saying, "I'm not worried."

"You and your crew really should leave before I arrest you on principle," Sgt. York said almost as a challenge. "If I find Alexis cat, I'll make sure it gets to her."

Before Angel responded an officer interrupted with, "Sgt. York, we have one mutilated dog, partial remains of a second one and two trembling ones in the yard."

"I'll be right there," Sgt. York said as he stared at Angel.

"Alexis, Alvin can return your cat…" Angel was only able to get out.

Sgt. York was holding his tongue and shaking his head as Alexis quickly said, "I really hate to leave my cat though."

"Alexis," Angel said in a tone as if to say, 'cool the act.'

Alexis timidly grinned before saying, "Okay; fine. But I'm coming back tomorrow if he can't find her."

"Take care," Angel told Sgt. York before he and his group left.

When Angel and his group were out of earshot of the others, Alexis asked, "So how was my acting?"

"A little too good," Angel said.

Alexis grinned before saying, "I'm part of my high school's drama club." She then disappointingly said, "I want to take acting lessons, but my mom can't afford it."

"Great," Faith sarcastically said. "Another Cordelia."

"Who is Cordelia?" Alexis asked.

Angel began to tell Alexis about Cordelia as they approached Faith's SUV. Faith got into the driver's seat as Angel got into the front passenger's seat. Everyone else got into the back seat. Angel continued to tell Alexis about Cordelia as Faith drove away.

Inside the junkyard, the owner and the officers were standing at the dogs' remains as the owner said, "I only had four dogs so that dog that ran wasn't one of mine. And what's with these detached tentacles?"

Angel tracked the blood trail for two blocks to an accident scene at an intersection. After taking a whiff of the air, Angel said, "The demon was hit by a car." He then gestured towards a direction. "It went that way."

As Faith drove off, Spike said, "If the demon is severely injured its going to want to feed again and soon."

"What are we going to do with it once we catch up to it?" Ben asked.

"We're going to capture it, cage it and take back to our headquarters to kill it," Angel said.

"You're going to take that thing back to your headquarters?" Alexis questioned.

"We have an incinerator there," Angel said.

"There's an incinerator at an old firehouse," Alexis commented.

"It was put in three months after we bought the abandon firehouse for occasions of this nature," Angel said.

"Angel, straight ahead behind that blue Ford truck," Faith said.

"I see it," Angel said. "Stop and let me out. Spike and I will come around from the right. You and Ben come at it from the left."

"What about me?" Alexis said as Faith stopped ten cars from the Ford truck.

"You stay in the vehicle," Angel and Faith ordered in unison.

Alexis gave Angel and Faith an annoyed look before saying, "I could help if you let me."

"People who try to help us sometimes end up dead," Angel said.

"I'll be careful," Alexis said as everyone opened their doors.

"Alexis, stay in the vehicle," Angel ordered.

"Fine," Alexis said just before the others were getting out.

Angel, Faith, Spike and Ben went to the back of the SUV. Angel and Faith each took an enhanced electrical cattle prod with triple the intensity. Spike and Ben each took chains along with swords. Spike had also grabbed a net.

Alexis stayed in the vehicle as she was told and watched as best as she could as Angel and Spike went one way and Faith and Ben went the other way.

The demon as a dog didn't look very healthy when the four stepped up to it. It leaped for Spike who was the closest one to it. When Spike dodged the demon, Angel shocked it with his cattle prod. Faith had also shocked the demon and once the demon was down, Spike threw the net over it.

Faith and Angel carefully secured the demon; carried it to the back of Faith's SUV and secured it in the back of the vehicle.

At TEC headquarters in the lobby, Buffy and Giles were being introduced to Valerie by Willow. Dawn got onto the elevator to go see Hunter.

Giles stared at Valerie in an unusually focused manner as Buffy said, "I don't think Capt. Matuzek is bugged, but I think we need to start with him and then tell him what's going on." Buffy noticed the stare that Giles was giving Valerie. "Giles?"

"Yes," Giles quickly said while breaking his stare. "Yes. I agree with starting with Capt. Matuzek."

Buffy slightly rolled her eyes before saying, "Giles, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Giles quickly said. "Why do you ask?"

"Why are you staring at Valerie the way you are?" Buffy asked.

"I'm sorry to stare," Giles said as he took of his glasses. "It's just that I never met a full-blooded Indian from United States before."

"It's Native American," Willow quickly corrected. "And it's impolite to stare; not to mention a bit racist."

"It's okay, Willow," Valerie said in Giles' defense. "He's not meaning it as being a racist. The feelings I'm sensing from him is more of a fascination than being a bigot; except, I'm not a full-blooded Native American. My dad's mom is half Sioux and half French. Of course my Mom and my dad's dad are Shoshone-Bannock."

Giles slightly grinned before saying, "You are still the closest to a full-blooded Native American who I met before."

Valerie slightly grinned before saying, "I can't really say that you're my first person from England who I met. I had a teacher once by the name of Martha Piper and she was from London England." Valerie saw Giles looking down while she was sensing familiarity along with a guilt feeling from him. "You knew her." Giles gave Valerie a curious look. "I can sense that you knew her. I also sense that you feel responsible for her in someway. Why am I'm sensing that?"

"Martha Piper is a watcher," Giles confessed.

"She's a watcher?" Valerie mocked. "As in what Willow is to Tabitha?"

Giles slightly nodded before saying, "Martha was sent to you just in case that you would become the chosen slayer."

"So you knew about me back when I was sixteen?" Valerie questioned.

"We did," Giles said.

"You knew what I was going through and you let me suffer while the explanation was so close to me?" Valerie questioned through clenched teeth.

"Valerie, nineteen out of twenty potentials don't take their dreams seriously," Buffy quickly answered. "Two out of twenty potentials don't even remember their dreams once they wake up. So we didn't know that you were having a rough time with your dreams. If we did, we would have had Martha tell you what was what. And we didn't want to do that because we wanted you to have a chance to a normal life if you didn't become the chosen slayer."

Valerie hesitated before giving an understanding nod and saying in a calm tone, "Okay."

"Okay; now let's go and debug this place," Buffy said.

Buffy and the others went to the elevator. Giles was the one to press the call button and while they waited for the elevator, Willow asked, "So what all had been happening for the last couple of days?"

Buffy and Giles began to fill Willow and Valerie in on the last couple of days without mentioning time traveling. As they reached their floor, the door opened up to reveal the computer technician Brandon O'Conner waiting for the elevator.

When Brandon saw Buffy, he said, "Buffy, I heard that you had a mission. How was it?"

Buffy said as she and the others stepped off the elevator, "It went okay, Brandon."

"Were you able to get a clue on where to find Dr. Briers?" Brandon asked as he stood in the doorway of the elevator while holding it open.

Buffy noticed Willow looking at Brandon in the same curious manner she had given Dr. Easter as Valerie was fidgeting while trying to keep from looking at him. After a short hesitation, Buffy said, "We are thinking that the blackout in Northeastern Ohio is a clue, but nothing more than that." She then pointed down the hall. "Anyway, we need to talk to Capt. Matuzek."

When Brandon nodded, Buffy and the others walked away. After the elevator door completely closed with Brandon on it, Valerie said, "Brandon is bugged."

"You know that for sure?" Giles questioned.

"Oh yeah," Valerie said. "The feeling I got from him is the same feeling I get with certain security cameras."

"You get feelings from security cameras?" Willow questioned.

"Sometimes I do and when I do, I know someone is watching me on a security camera," Valerie said.

"Is there a reason that you're getting watched by security cameras?" Giles questioned.

Valerie gave Giles a smirk before saying, "I've never gave security guards a reason to watch me. The bookstore I had worked for had a security room with monitors. Kevin, one of my co-workers, had a crush on me. He was real shy and he never knew that I knew how he felt about me. Anyway, at times he would go into the security room and watch me. I knew each time he did it." She glanced at Buffy. "Kevin wasn't stalking me though. He never followed me outside work or come by my house."

Buffy grinned before saying, "You knew that I was thinking that Kevin might have been a stalker."

"Well, I picked up a worried emotion from you while I was telling you about Kevin and you're not the first person I told who thought Kevin might have been a stalker," Valerie said as they approached Capt. Matuzek's office.

"So you knew what Buffy was thinking from knowing what past people had thought?" Giles questioned.

Valerie nodded before saying, "When it comes to emotions, everyone in the world speaks the same language and after years of feeling those emotions, I can guess fairly accurately of what people are thinking. Also on rare occasions I can actually hear people's thoughts. I never heard Buffy's thoughts though."

Buffy just grinned. As everyone stepped up to Capt. Matuzek's door, Buffy knocked. Everyone heard Capt. Matuzek saying, "Come in."

After everyone stepped in, Buffy said, "Capt. Matuzek, I want you to meet Valerie Blackstone; our latest recruit."

Everyone saw how tired Capt. Matuzek looked and as he stood up, he stuck out his hand to shake hands while saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Blackstone."

"Just call me Valerie… or even Val," she said while shaking his hands.

"Okay, Val," Capt. Matuzek said. "So what all do you know about what's going on?"

"All I know is that we're after a vampire name Dr. Julius Briers and a demon name Lowkey," Valerie said.

"Have a seat and I'll explain what you weren't told," Capt. Matuzek said. "Before I explain though, I'll need you to read over and sign a non-disclosure agreement."

"Okay." Valerie then turned towards Buffy and whispered, "He's not bugged."

"I agree," Willow said as Capt. Matuzek was noticing the whispering.

As Valerie was taking a guest chair, Capt. Matuzek questioned, "Is there something going on?"

"There is," Buffy said. Willow sat down in the second guest chair. "Lowkey has this place mystically bugged."

"What do you mean that he has this place mystically bugged?" Capt. Matuzek quickly asked.

"Lowkey is able to see and hear through two people that we know of and most likely more," Buffy said. "Willow and Valerie are able to sense who are bugged."

"Great," Capt. Matuzek sarcastically said. "Who are the two who you know of?"

"Dr. Easter and Brandon," Buffy said. "I don't know Brandon's last name."

"It's O'Conner," Capt. Matuzek said. "And how long have he and Dr. Easter been bugged?"

"Since before the fire in the loading dock," Giles said. "In fact, I believe that the spell was administered from digesting Chinese food."

"I'm certain that I can break the spell though," Willow said.

"Wait," Capt. Matuzek quickly said. "How long have you known that Dr. Easter was infected?"

"Since the day of the fire," Buffy said.

"You knew this and you spoke in front of Dr. Easter about certain things?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"I never said anything in front of Dr. Easter that I didn't want Lowkey to know," Buffy said.

"What about…" Capt. Matuzek got out before stopping in mid-sentence. He then grinned and shook his head. "You set Lowkey up with all that you said yesterday about when the Watcher's Council created the first slayer."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I did."

Valerie gave Buffy a curious look before asking, "How can Lowkey get set up by knowing when the Watcher's Council created the first slayer?"

Capt. Matuzek pulled opened his top drawer while saying, "We can't answer that question until after you sign that non-disclosure agreement." He then handed Valerie the document.

Valerie took the document and took the time to read it. She used Capt. Matuzek's desk for a hard surface when she signed her name. Once she was done, she pushed the document towards him while asking, "So what's the full story?"

Capt. Matuzek picked up the document and looked at Valerie's signature before saying, "The proper name of this facility is the Time Enforcement Commission. What we do here is that we track and go after time fugitives in order to preserve the timeline."

"You go after time fugitives?" Valerie questioned while looking at Capt. Matuzek as if he had lost his mind.

"We do and we do this with a time-machine that Dr. Briers co-created before he became a vampire," Capt. Matuzek said. Valerie just sat and listened while she continued to look at him as if he had lost his mind. "The time-machine that we have is the second of three that were created. The third and most up-to-date one was created a few weeks ago and it was to replace our existing one. However, before we were able to swap the two out, Dr. Briers was sired as a vampire and stole that third machine. So your group's mission is to retrieve that time-machine for us and to go back in time when necessary to stop Dr. Brier's time-traveling vampires and demons."

Valerie gave Capt. Matuzek a curious look before saying, "You're serious."

Buffy grinned before saying, "He's serious. And to set the record straight about something, Capt. Matuzek, the slayer's line is almost as old as the human race itself."

"So the Watcher's Council didn't create the first slayer?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"No, but the Watcher's Council had descended from people who did," Buffy said. "Anyway, I think our next step is to debug this facility."

"You don't know where all the bugs are at though," Capt. Matuzek said. "Or who are all bugged.'

"We don't," Buffy said. "However, as I said, Willow and Valerie are able to sense who are bugged."

"If I learn anything from the past it's that debugging a facility in more effective when every bug is eliminated in one sweep," Capt. Matuzek said. "To do this in one sweep, we have to find out who are all bugged and to do that I'm going to do a quick revision of the standard protocols; which really needed to have been done last month."

"How is that going to help?" Valerie asked.

"Every personnel must sign a document stating that they received a copy of the revised protocol," Capt. Matuzek said. "Guess who will be the two who will be going around getting those signatures."

"Heckle and Jeckle," Valerie playfully said.

"If you're referring to yourself as Heckle and Willow as Jeckle or vice versa than yeah," Capt. Matuzek said. Valerie just grinned. "And while you after those signatures do what you need to do to sense who are bugged."

"So when will Heckle and I be doing this?" Willow asked.

Valerie gave Willow a smirk as Capt. Matuzek said, "Give me until ten o'clock to have the documents printed up."

"That will give me plenty of time to come up with the spell to eliminate the bugs," Willow said.

"Okay, well unless Valerie has any questions, we through here," Capt. Matuzek said.

Valerie hesitated before saying, "I can't think of any questions relevant to what I'm doing here."

Capt. Matuzek gave Valerie a curious look before asking, "What is the question you do have?"

"When was the last time you slept?" Valerie asked.

Capt. Matuzek slightly grinned before saying, "I was home sleeping not too long ago, but I was called in with the latest emergency. Anyway, if you can think of any relevant questions later, I'm sure Buffy can answer them. So everyone can go and do what you need to do."

"It was nice meeting you, Capt. Matuzek," Valerie said as she and Willow stood up.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Val," Capt. Matuzek said.

Buffy waved bye before she and her group left the office.


	33. Chapter 33

In Los Angeles, Ben opened the door to Angel Investigation's headquarters for Angel and Faith as they dragged the net holding the unconscious echo demon from the car and into the facility. Alexis followed behind Angel and Faith. Spike entered last. After everyone was inside, they saw Gunn and Alexis' mom Allyson watching them from across the room.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Alexis asked. "Where's your car? I didn't see it."

"I couldn't find a parking spot in front so I parked up the street slightly," Allyson said. "And I came to find out where you were. Do you have any idea of what time it is, young lady?"

Alexis timidly grinned before saying, "I have a slight idea."

"Hi, I'm Gunn by the way, Alexis," he said while holding an amulet-necklace. The necklace had a few gems arranged at the circumference of the amulet with one ruby in the center. "I work with Angel from time to time."

Alexis politely smiled while saying, "Hi, Gunn."

"I actually know your mom back in the days of Wolfram & Hart," Gunn said.

"You worked for Wolfram & Hart," Angel said. "I remember you."

"I'm pleased that you remember me," Allyson said.

"Need any help?" Gunn asked as he gestured towards the echo demon in the net.

"Faith and I can handle it," Angel said. "Faith, we should continue."

Gunn held up the amulet-necklace while saying, "When you get done at playing dog catcher to sickly looking dogs perhaps you can tell me what this is."

"Ooh, that's a pretty necklace," Alexis said as she saw a slight glow of the ruby from across the room.

"Where did you get it," Angel asked as he and Faith carried the net with the demon to the door that led to the back of the facility.

"I liberated it from two demons of unknown origin," Gunn said as Alexis stepped closer to the necklace for a better look. "The one that was wearing it was chanting a spell before I killed him."

"Can I try it on?" Alexis asked.

"No!" came a chorus made up of Angel, Faith, Spike and Gunn.

"Okay; I was just asking," Alexis said.

As Angel and Faith disappeared into the back with the demon, Gunn said, "I'm thinking this necklace is mystical and someone putting on a mystical necklace never ends well."

"Do you think it mystical because the ruby's glowing?" Alexis asked.

"What are you talking about?" Gunn questioned as he moved it up to eye level.

"The ruby is glowing slightly," Alexis said.

"No-no," Gunn said. "I think what you're seeing is the reflection from the lights."

"That thing is glowing and if you don't believe me then turn off the lights," Alexis said.

"Right; let's find out," Spike said as he moved towards the lights.

When Spike turned off the lights, everyone was able to see the faint glow that the ruby was emitting.

"I'll be damn, it is glowing slightly," Gunn said.

Angel and Faith stepped back in while the light was off. When they stopped at the door, Angel questioned, "What's going on, guys?"

Spike turned on the lights as Gunn was saying, "Alexis noticed that this thing was glowing. I couldn't see it myself until the lights were off." He then held the amulet up again. "Anyway, can you help me out on what this is?"

"Let me go grab the books," Faith said before moving towards the books.

"Alexis, it passed midnight and we really need to get going," Allyson said.

"Thanks for letting me tag a long, Faith, but…" Alexis was able to get out before the facility went dark again, except for the brighter glow of the ruby, which was illuminating the room as a bright nightlight would.

"Okay that wasn't me this time," Spike said.

"Gunn, your necklace is much brighter now," Ben said.

"I've noticed that too," Gunn said just before the sounds of windows breaking were heard.

"Everyone, in the back room," Angel said.

Before anyone could take a step, eight demons rushed in and surrounded everyone.

The lead demon was female. She carried a staff and as she stepped up she said, "We're only here to reclaim what is ours. Give me the necklace and all of you will be spared."

"I know you," Allyson said. "Well, not you per se, but I know what you are."

"Silence, human!" the demon demanded Allyson to do. She then faced Gunn while saying, "Now give back the necklace."

"You can't give her the necklace, Gunn," Allyson said.

"I said silence," the demon said before striking her with an energy bolt from her staff.

Allyson instantly fell to the ground unconscious. Alexis dropped to her mother's side while shouting in a doleful panic and attempting to shake her awake, "Mom. Mom." She then checked for a heartbeat. "I'm not finding a pulse."

"I know CPR," Ben said as he dashed to provide aid.

Angel quickly stepped up to the lead demon while saying, "You're to leave now while you can."

"I'm not leaving, human, until I get what I came for," the demon said.

"You need to check again before calling me human," Angel said as he changed into his demon face.

"Wait, you're a…" the demon said as she stumbled over the word.

"The word you're searching for is 'vampire,'" Angel said.

"Vampire… of course," the demon said. "We have no vampires in our dimension. Aren't vampires supposed to be evil?"

"I reformed, what can I say," Angel said. "Now leave!"

The demon made a motion as if she was backing down and when she thought that Angel wasn't expecting it, she made an attacked.

Angel never dropped his guard and when the demon made her move, Angel countered while downing the demon. The remaining demons charged and in seconds Angel, Faith, Spike and Gunn were in the middle of a rough skirmish with the demons. Ben and Alexis were off to the side while trying to revive Allyson.

The damages to the room were racking up with each passing minute. Ben was able to get a heartbeat from Allyson after two minutes, but she remained unconscious. When there was nothing more Ben was able to do for Allyson, he went to assist in the fight.

The fight lasted for ten minutes and it ended when all eight demons were killed. The glow of the amulet had also faded into total darkness when the last one was killed.

"I can't see," Ben called out. "Did we win?"

"I believe so," Faith said just before stumbling over something in the dark while making a loud thud as she fell. "Son of a…"

"I know where flashlights are," Angel said. "Everyone stay where you are."

Everyone heard Alexis sobbing as she said, "Angel, my mom's not waking up. We need to get her to the hospital."

"We will," Angel said as he carefully walked to where the flashlights were. "Just don't move."

Angel was barely able to make out what Alexis said with his vampire hearing, as she muttered, "You won't be able to drag me from this spot."

It took Angel a few minutes to get four flashlights. He then gave Faith, Gunn and Spike each a flashlight. Faith immediately went to a phone to call for an ambulance.

As Angel and the others were stepping up to Alexis, Alexis was sitting in the floor with her mom's head draped in her lap. Her cheeks and chin were dripping wet from crying.

When Angle saw the sight of Alexis and her mom, he said, "Faith is calling the ambulance." Alexis just nodded while wiping her face as good as she could. "Gunn; Spike, Ben. Help me dispose of these corpses before the ambulance get here."

No one said a word as they moved towards the demons' remains.

Angel and the others were able to get all eight bodies into the back within seconds before the ambulance arrived. The paramedics treated Allyson right away and after stabilizing her, Allyson was wheeled away on a stretcher with Alexis two steps behind the entire time.

Alexis took a seat at her mom's side and took hold of her mom's hand. Before the door was closed, Faith told her, "We'll meet you at the hospital." Alexis was nodding when the paramedic closed the back door to the ambulance.

Angel turned towards the others while saying, "Okay, Faith and I will meet Alexis at the hospital. I want everyone else to stay here and find out all you can about that amulet and the demons who wanted it so badly."

"You got it," Gunn said followed by Spike. Ben just nodded when Angel glanced in his direction.

"The first priority though is to get these lights back on," Spikes added.

Angel glanced at Spike for a brief moment before saying, "Faith, let's go."

A short time later at the hospital, the hospital's staff stopped Alexis from following the stretcher at a certain point. Alexis watched with her arms crossed and tears running down her cheeks as her mom and the staff moved further down the corridor. After they disappeared behind a door, Alexis went to a pay phone and made a collect call to her mom's sister.

As Alexis was hanging up the phone, Angel and Faith walked up and made their presence known to her. Alexis went to Faith for a comforting hug and during the hug Angel saw the helplessness and confusion of what to do in Faith's eyes as she attempted to console Alexis to the best of her ability.

Twenty minutes later, Allyson's sister and brother-in-law were stepping into the waiting room in time to hear the doctor telling Angel, Faith and Alexis, "Your mother had suffered severe neurological damages throughout her body. And you say that this was caused by a severe electrical shock?"

Alexis was staring at her aunt as she and Angel said, "It was."

When the doctor turned to look at what Alexis was focusing on, Alexis continued to say, "Doctor, you should meet my Aunt Kristen and my Uncle Jonah. Aunt Kristen is my mom's sister."

The doctor shook Jonah's hand first and as the doctor was shaking Kristen's hand, Kristen questioned, "My sister suffered neurological damages?" The doctor just politely nodded. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Your sister is breathing on her own, but she's in a coma." The doctor then hesitated to say, "We still have to perform more tests, but I'm sorry to have to inform you that the preliminary tests show that her chances of waking up from that coma are less than fifty percent."

"If she's breathing on her own, isn't that a good sign that she'll wake up?" Alexis questioned. She suddenly saw Jonah repulsively staring at her.

"Alexis, to be honest with you, I have never seen a case exactly like this one before," the doctor began. Alexis ignored Jonah's stare and turned her attention towards the doctor. "Most people with severe neurological damages as your mother has also suffer from organ failure and-or brain damage as well. In those cases each patient had to be placed on the machine. So I'm going to say that your mother has a better chance at recovery than most people in her situation."

Alexis slightly grinned as Kristen said, "That's good."

"So when can I go see my mom?" Alexis asked.

"As I said, we still have more tests to perform and it will take most of the night through early morning," the doctor said. "So it might be best if you go on home and come back during visiting hours."

Alexis hesitantly nodded. When Kristen saw that Alexis wasn't going to say anything else, she asked, "Alexis, did you provide the staff the necessary information; like the insurance information and your mom's medical history."

"I tried, but…" Alexis was only able to get out.

"She gave us enough to where we were able to fill in the blanks from a recent visit," the doctor said.

"What recent visit?" Kristen asked.

"Mom badly sprang her ankle last month and she thought it might've been broken," Alexis said.

"Good," Kristen said. "Well, not good that your mom sprang her ankle obviously, but it's good that the hospital has all the important information."

"Kristen, I think you are listed as your sister's emergency contact, so if her condition changes someone will immediately get in touch with you."

Kristen nodded before saying, "Thank you, doctor."

The doctor nodded and turned to walk away. As the doctor was leaving, Alexis turned towards Jonah before saying, "Are you mad at me, Uncle Jonah."

"I was told of what you are and you are no longer welcome in my home," Jonah said.

"Uncle Jonah," Alexis said in a pleading tone. "I'm the same person as I always been."

"You are an abomination to life itself," Jonah said.

"Jonah!" Kristen uttered out as Angel and Faith stared harshly at him. "Alexis is my sister's daughter and you are to treat her as such."

"I'll be treating her as the demon she is," Jonah hissed. "If she attempts to come into our home, I'll splash her with holy water."

"Alexis can't be harm by holy water and if you ever attempt to harm her, you'll be dealing with me," Faith said.

"And me," Angel added.

"And who exactly are you two," Jonah asked.

"I'm Angel from Angel's investigation," he said. "This is Faith. Faith is a friend and associate."

"Angel and Faith," Jonah mocked. "If that indeed are your names you two sound Christian anyway."

"Don't let our names fool you," Faith commented.

"And don't let Alexis' harmless act fool you," Jonah said. "In fact, if you two knew what Alexis is, you wouldn't be fast to defend her."

"We know," Angel said.

"And what do you think you know?" Jonah asked.

"Let me better introduce myself," Faith began while keeping her voice down so others in the waiting room can't hear. "I'm Faith, the vampire slayer. And I'm here to tell you that a noticeable percentage of the demon population just wants to live in peace. Alexis is one of those demons."

Jonah gave Faith a cold stare before saying, "Don't mock me, woman."

"Mock?" Faith quickly questioned. "I'm not mocking anyone."

"Faith is telling you the truth," Alexis said.

"Alexis, I think your uncle needs proof," Angel said as he positioned himself where no one outside his group could see his face. He then changed into his demon face.

Jonah stumbled back a few steps while saying, "You're a…"

"Yes, I am," Angel said as he changed his face back. "And I was cursed with a soul so I don't kill anymore."

"By gypsies," Kristen said. Angel gave her a surprise look. "You were cursed by gypsies and now you fight against the darkness of evil for The Powers That Be."

"You heard of me?" Angel questioned.

" Allyson told me about you when she worked for Wolfram & Hart," Kristen said. "Of course I thought she was making those stories up at the time. But now I can see it's true."

"Well, regardless of who you people are or that you believe that Alexis just wants to live in peace, she's not welcome in my home and neither are either of you two," Jonah firmly stated.

"Oh gee and here I was hoping to become best of buds with you," Angel sarcastically said just as his cell phone rang. Angel just stared at Jonah for a moment before turning away and answering his phone without looking at the incoming number. "This is Angel."

"It's Gunn and I found a few things on those demons."

"I'm listening," Angel said as he moved away for privacy.

"They call themselves the Flortec crusaders," Gunn said. "They're from a dimension called Zelotus and about five hundred years ago the leader of these crusaders, always female by the way, had challenged her god with two hundred magical red eyes."

"Magical eyes?" Angel interrupted with.

"My guess, the book is referring to two hundred magical rubies; however, the Flortec's leader was stopped and the two hundred magical eyes were scattered throughout two hundred dimensions," Gunn said.

"If these Flortecs get all two hundred rubies what would happen?" Angel asked.

"If the collection of the two hundred rubies were meant to challenge a god, I really don't want to find out what it does," Gunn said.

"Agreed," Angel said.

"Oh and that staff that that one had; it opens and closes dimensional portals," Gunn said.

"Did you found that out from the book?" Angel asked.

"Actually we found that out when Ben opened one as he was closely examining the staff," Gunn said. "How fond were you of your desk."

"Why? Was my desk damaged in anyway?" Angel quickly questioned.

"It's probably not damaged, but we don't know for sure since it and everything on it were sucked into a dimensional portal," Gunn said.

"Great," Angel sarcastically said. "That desk was a gift from the Arabian prince. It's no telling how much it was worth."

"Well, I doubt that you'll being seeing that again anytime soon," Gunn said.

"Was anything else sucked into to the portal?" Angel asked.

"No; that was it," Gunn said.

"Okay, well, thanks for the heads up," Angel said. "Bye."

Angel rejoined the others as Faith was telling Alexis, "I don't have an apartment or a house. I live at Angel's headquarters and I sleep in the old barracks section."

"That's an old firehouse, so I'm sure it has room for more occupants," Alexis said as Angel looked between her and Faith with confusion over the conversation that he walked into.

"Alexis, attacks on our headquarters, like what happened tonight, happens at least once a month, so no; you can't live with me or at Angel's investigation," Faith firmly said.

"Well, I need somewhere to live," Alexis said. "I don't work and soon as the landlord finds out that my mom is in a coma and not expected to wake up, I'm out on the streets."

"Jonah, if you won't allow Alexis to come live with us then I'm going to move in with her," Kristen warned.

"Don't, Aunt Kristen," Alexis said. "I don't want to be the one to cause problems between you and Uncle Jonah. In spite of his new hatred towards me, I still love him. You two belong together. I'll just quit school and get a job somewhere so I can pay the bills of where I'm at now."

"You don't need to be quitting school," Kristen firmly stated.

"Or living alone with demon hunters lurking about," Faith added. "You're too unprepared for what could happen."

"Well, I don't see another option," Alexis said.

"There's another option," Angel said.

"What is it?" Alexis and Kristen asked.

"There's an organization called the Watcher's Council." Alexis saw the bitterness in Faith's eyes as Angel continued to say, "The council's primary mission is to find young potential-slayers between the ages of fifteen and twenty in order to train them. They are experts in demonology and they know that not all demons are evil. I know the two leaders of the council and I'm certain that they will take you in. While there, they will make sure you receive the finest education. You might even learn something about the supernatural. In fact, learning about the supernatural is almost guaranteed."

"It sounds interesting," Alexis said while crossing her arms. "Now what's wrong with them?"

"What makes you think that there's anything wrong with them?" Angel asked.

"When you mentioned the Watcher's Council, the expression on Faith's face looked as if she had bitten into a sour lemon," Alexis said.

"Oh, don't go by me," Faith said. "I had a bad experience with the former members of Watcher's Council during my first year as a slayer and I still feel the hatred of them when the council is mention. Since then though, the First Evil totally wiped out the council. After the First Evil was pushed back, Buffy and her former watcher Giles became leaders to the new reformed council which I do endorse from afar."

"Alexis, I can't make you go, but to be honest, the Watcher's Council is the best place for you," Angel said.

"I'm not saying I'll go, but if I do, where is it?" Alexis questioned.

"The headquarters is located in London England," Angel said.

Alexis smiled before asking, "I would be going to England?"

"Giles, Buffy and a small group of charmed slayers are presently in Washington, D.C. while working with the TEC government agency, so there's a chance that you would join them there," Faith said.

"They haven't found that vampire yet?" Angel questioned. Faith shook her head. "Huh."

"All this sounds good and all, but I don't want to abandon my mom," Alexis said.

"Alexis, your mom wouldn't want you to sit idle at her side as she lay in a coma," Kristen said. "She would want what was best for you and becoming part of the Watcher's Council sounds like an opportunity of a life time."

"What if mom wakes up from her coma after I leave though?" Alexis asked.

"Then you'll come back," Kristen said.

"I don't know," Alexis said.

"Go for a few months," Angel said. "If you don't like it, you can always come back."

"You don't need to be living on your own," Kristen added. "So it's either you joining the Watcher's Council or…" Kristen looked over at Jonah. "Or I'm moving in with you." Jonah just faced away while refusing to dignify that with a response.

"If I go and I decide that I don't like it, can I leave anytime?" Alexis questioned.

"The Watcher's Council isn't a prison," Angel said.

"It's not a free facility either, so you'll be expected to earn your keep when you're not in school," Faith added.

"So I'll be what? An indentured servant?" Alexis asked.

"While you're there, yes; in a matter of speaking," Faith said. "You'll most likely be ask to help with the cooking and the cleaning, but as Angel said, it's not a prison. You can leave anytime you feel like it, but once you leave you'll be out for good… unless you can be convincing enough that you deserve another shot."

"Alexis, wouldn't it be better to work for the Watcher's Council and go to school than it is to quit school only to get a minimal wage job?" Kristen questioned.

Alexis thought for a brief moment before nodding and saying, "Okay. If you can get me in, Angel, I would like to do it."

"Good, I'll make the call," Angel said as he turned towards a clock. "In about three to four hours when Buffy and Giles are awake."

"In the meantime I guess I'll wait here in the waiting room," Alexis commented.

"No in the meantime, you and I are going to your house so you can pack a few things," Kristen said.

"Angel hasn't placed the call yet," Alexis said. "So I don't even know if I can go to the Watcher's Council."

"Well either way, you need to pack just in case," Kristen said. "And if you can't go then we'll figure out what to do next."

"Fine," Alexis said.

"Alexis, once we talk with Buffy or Giles about you going there, we'll let you know," Angel said. Alexis just nodded.

"Jonah, I'll drive and drop you off at the house," Kristen said. "Then Alexis and I will continue to her house to pack her things."

"I'm not getting in a car with a demon," Jonah firmly stated.

"I'm the same person who you took to the park, Uncle Jonah," Alexis quickly said. "You use to tuck me in at night with a hug and kiss on the cheek."

"Satan may have shrouded my eyes of what you are, but I know now and I won't get into another car with you," Jonah said.

When Alexis crossed her arms with a heartbreaking expression on her face and tears ran down her cheeks, Kristen hissed at Jonah, "Take the car. Alexis and I will take a cab."

Alexis wiped the tears from her face while saying, "Mom's car is parked outside Angel's headquarters."

"Angel and I will take you and Alexis to Allyson's car," Faith told Kristen.

Kristen gave Faith a nod before hissing towards Jonah again, "You're niece adores you and you broke her heart tonight. I hope you're proud of yourself."

"Demons are evil no matter in what form they're in," Jonah shot back. "I'll pray that you can see that before you get hurt."

"You may think that this is irrelevant or you might just simply don't care, Jonah, but once your niece found out that she was a half demon, she came to me for me to kill her," Faith said. "It became apparent right away that she knew nothing of the demonic world even though she was a non-threatening half demon. So if she was evil…"

"You're right, it's irrelevant," Jonah interrupted with.

"Faith, don't waste your breath on him," Angel said. "I met people like him before and they can only see a world of black and white."

"I'm helping my niece and I'll be out all night so don't wait up," Kristen firmly said. "And I don't want to hear anything from you against it."

"Fine; I'll be at home when you decide to come home," Jonah said before walking towards the exit without waiting for a response.

When Jonah was a short distance away, Faith said, "We should go."

"Lead the way," Kristen said. As everyone was walking towards the exit she continued to ask, "How exactly did Allyson get hurt?"

Angel filled Kristen in on what happened during the walked to the car and the ride to Angel's investigation.

Angel, Faith, Alexis and Kristen were walking through the door of Angel's investigation headquarters while Gunn, Spike and Ben were sitting at the table with books spread out in front of them. Gunn stared at Kristen while saying, "Angel, we need to talk in private about this necklace."

Angel gestured to towards Kristen while saying, "She's Alexis's Aunt Kristen and I had filled her in on everything so it's okay to talk in front of her. So what did you learn?"

"Just that the Flortec crusaders will be back in force to reclaim their necklace," Gunn said. "Since giving it back might be a bad idea, do you have any idea of where to bury it so they can't find it?"

"If the people at the Watcher's Council are experts then maybe they should hide it," Alexis said.

"That's really not a bad suggestion," Faith said.

"Okay, but we can't take a risk that it would get incepted in the mail so mailing it is out," Angel said.

"I can take it if they accept me," Alexis said. Gunn gave Alexis a confused look.

"You couldn't protect it, so no," Angel said.

"I'll take it and if Alexis gets accepted I'll escort her there as well," Faith said.

"Why should you take it?" Angel asked.

"The faster the Watcher's Council gets the necklace and hides it the safer everyone will be and speed is a problem for you, Angel, if you have to travel thousands of miles," Faith said.

"Okay, fine," Angel said. "You can take it."

"Perhaps you should take that staff that opens dimensional portals as well," Gunn said.

"What are you talking about?" Faith asked.

"Oh, uh I failed to mention that the staff that was used to electrocute Alexis' mom also opens and closes dimensional portals," Angel said.

"Oh, Angel, I'm sorry about your desk," Ben said.

"What happened with his desk?" Alexis asked.

"I accidentally opened up a portal while I was examining the staff and it sucked the desk into it," Ben said.

"Wasn't that desk a gift from the Arabian prince?" Faith asked.

"Don't remind me," Angel said. "And, Ben, you may want to stay clear of me for a few days. Anyway, Gunn, where's Allyson's purse?"

"Oh, uh, it's over there," Gunn said while pointing to the reception counter.

"I'll get it," Kristen said before walking towards the purse.

"So, Alexis, how is your mom?" Spike asked.

"She's in a coma and the doctor said that her chances of waking up are less than fifty percent," Alexis said.

"I'm sorry," Spike said followed by Gunn and Ben.

"So you'll be moving in with your aunt?" Gunn continued to ask.

"No, my uncle knows that I'm a half demon and doesn't want anything to do with me now," Alexis said. "Angel thinks that he can get me into the Watcher's Council though."

"Okay, a previous statement is making sense to me now," Gunn said.

Alexis slightly grinned as Kristen said, "Alexis, sweetie, we should get going."

"Okay," Alexis told Kristen. She then faced the others and said, "Well, as Tigger would say, 'TTFN'"

Gunn grinned before answering Alexis with, "Ta ta for now."

"Bye," Kristen said followed by a chorus from the others.

As Alexis and Kristen were leaving, Angel asked his group, "What's TTFN?"

Gunn looked at Angel as if he had lost his mind before saying, "It means ta ta for now. It's what Tigger say on the cartoon Whiney the Pooh."

"Oh; I never seen it," Angel said.

"Obviously," Gunn said. "Anyway, I'm tired and I'm going home; so TTFN as well."

"Bye," Angel, Faith and Ben said before Gunn walked towards the exit.

4:50 A.M, in Canton, Ohio, Jack while driving a rental car drove up in front of the location affected first by the blackout which was a down electrical tower. Several emergency response vehicles and the personnel to those vehicles were in and around the tower. Dean was in the front passenger seat as Sam and Kennedy were in the back seats while gazing on the sight.

Kennedy couldn't help, but to say sarcastically, "You were so right, Jack. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"I was certain that Canton was the city," Jack said as an officer stepped up to the car.

When Jack rolled down the window, the officer told him, "There's nothing to see here, so move along."

"I'm Jack Logan, an officer from the TEC government agency out of Washington, D.C.," he said as he pulled out his badge. "My associates and I were sent here to find out if this was a matter for national security."

The officer took Jack's ID and looked at it before asking, "Are you part of homeland security?"

"TEC is an unofficial branch of homeland security and I can't say any more than that," Jack said as he took back his ID. "So what happened here?"

"This is or was one of the main electrical towers for the city and someone destroyed it along with the others," the officer said. "We think it might have been the first step to something bigger, so the entire city of Canton is under a terrorist alert."

"Thank you, Officer, you have been helpful," Jack said. "If TEC needs anymore information, someone will contact your captain."

"You're not going to investigate to determine if it was an act of terrorist?" the officer asked.

"Well, as I said, TEC is an unofficial branch of homeland security," Jack said. "I'm sure someone from homeland security will be around to investigate the matter further."

"Okay," the officer said.

Jack nodded and rolled up his window. As he drove away, Sam asked, "So any idea of what city to try next?"

"Capt. Matuzek wants us to go to Coshocton, Ohio next," Jack said.

"Why Coshocton?" Dean asked.

"Buffy feels that that city should be checked out," Jack said.

"Buffy suggested Coshocton and you're telling us now?" Kennedy demanded to know.

Jack nonchalantly said, "Yeah, Capt. Matuzek said that when Buffy had returned from her mission, she had a hunch and one hunch is good as another."

"You're wrong, Jack," Kennedy quickly said. "Buffy hunches carry a hell a lot more value than anyone else's. And I know that for a fact because I personally underestimated her hunches more times than I would like to admit before I stopped arguing that she was wrong and just went with what she was saying."

"Well, we're going to find out how right she is with this hunch," Jack said.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N1 I had planned for Helen's remains and the assassin's knife that she obtained from the crossmok demon to be discovered in Buffy's time. I'm still doing it, but instead of introducing new characters to my story I'm going to add the show 'Bones' to my list of crossovers shows. (Okay I can't help myself and most likely it will be the last show… maybe. I had thought about adding Melinda Gordon from Ghost Whisperer from the very beginning of this story, but I probably won't do it) Agent Booth will favor Angel enough to catch Buffy's and the Scoobies' attentions, but they will still be able to see a noticeable difference to tell the two apart. As with Buffy, Angel, TimeCop, Supernatural and Painkiller Jane I do not own nor do I have claims to Bones. **

**A/N2 Amber is being referred to as a charmed slayer even though she became a full blown slayer after being caught in the time paradox.**

5:45 A.M in Washington D.C., Xander woke. After checking the time, he got up to check on Hunter only to find a note from Dawn in the cot at where Hunter was sleeping. He slightly grinned before discarding the note. After grabbing clean clothes he went to take a shower.

Forty minutes later, in the lunchroom Xander bought breakfast and was taking a seat at a table with Willow, Dawn, Hunter and the four charmed slayers. Dawn had Hunter in her lap. Willow and the others were done eating and were just talking.

Once Xander was in his seat, Willow said, "Xander, this is Valerie. Valerie, meet Xander."

As Xander and Valerie were shaking hands, Xander said, "Please tell you that you're not related to the Chumash tribe."

Valerie gave Xander a curious look before saying, "I'm not related to them that I'm aware of." Their handshake ended. "Do you have a problem with the Chumash?"

Before Xander had a chance to say anything, Willow explained, "About thirteen years ago, spirits from the Chumash tribe inflicted him with a list of deadly diseases."

Valerie failed to hold back a chuckle before covering her mouth. When Xander gave her a bothered look, she uncovered her mouth to say, "I'm sorry to laugh. Willow told me a few stories already of how stuff somehow always happens to you. You have gone through some bizarre situations."

Xander grinned before saying, "You don't have to tell me."

Xander was taking a bite of food, when Nichole, said, "You've been holding out on us, Xander. Let's here some of those stories."

"It's more fun to watch his expressions when we tell those stories," Dawn said.

Xander gave Dawn a smirk before saying, "You just like embarrassing me."

"Of course," Dawn said with a devious grin as Amber saw Buffy and Giles walking towards to the table.

"You might want to wait to embarrass Xander," Amber said. "Buffy and Giles are coming."

Everyone turned towards Buffy and Giles. As the two was stepping up, "Willow asked, "What's going on?"

"I just got off the phone with Faith," Buffy began as she and Giles each took a seat at the table. "This evening or sometime late tonight, she'll be arriving with a new student…"

"She found a potential?" Willow quickly questioned.

"No; not a potential, but someone who can benefit from the Watcher's Council as well," Giles said.

"Who else other than a potential could benefit from the Watcher's Council?" Dawn asked.

"Before I answer that I'll need Amber, Nichole, Cat and Valerie to understand something," Buffy said.

"I'm listening," the four each said.

"Not every demon is our enemy," Buffy said. "Some has even been a very valuable and powerful ally to us in the past."

"How come I get a feeling that what's coming is a demon?" Cat questioned.

"She's half demon on her dad's side," Buffy said. "She seventeen years old and her name is Alexis Wilson."

"What kind of half demon is she?" Dawn asked.

"An echo demon," Buffy said.

"I heard of an echo demon," Dawn said. "I never actually met one though."

"What's an echo demon?" Nichole asked.

Giles described in great detail what a pure echo demon was along with making sure that the four charmed slayers knew that Alexis' true appearance, temperament, wants, needs and desires were human. After Giles was done explaining what an echo demon was, he and Buffy explained about Alexis' situation, the dimensional staff, the amulet, the Flortec crusaders and how the Flortec crusaders can't get their hands on the amulet.

When Buffy and Giles were done, Nichole, asked, "Giles, couldn't your friend use the dimensional staff to close the dimensional fissures?"

Willow, Dawn and Valerie gave Nichole a confused look as Giles answered, "I do understand why you suggested that and even though dimensional fissures and dimensional portal are closely related, they are two separate things… except, I know a few people who believe that dimensional fissures are caused by too many portals being open in a short time."

"So, no, the dimensional staff won't be able to close those dimensional fissures?" Nichole asked.

"Yes… I mean yes on that being a no," Giles said. "As what was discussed yesterday, the only way to close a dimensional fissure is to build a structure around it."

Willow, Dawn and Valerie continued to show confusion over what was previous stated and before any of them could question, Cat asked, "Will Alexis be joining us?" When Buffy gave Cat a curious look, Cat continued to say, "As in 'us' I mean the group that is going back in time."

Buffy shook her head while saying, "No. I want to limit her exposure on what she sees and gets told about what we're doing. In fact, she'll be joining all the potentials from England when they arrive."

"The potentials from England are coming here?" Willow asked.

Giles nodded before he began to fill Willow, Dawn and Valerie in on what was said the previous night.

At the Jeffersonian Institute Zack Addy was in an examining room while going over data on the computer. Helen's skeletal remains were displayed on the examining bed a few feet from him.

In the year 2009 Helen's remains was discovered in Africa at the foot of a volcano by a team of archaeologists. The remains were in excellent condition considering that all evidence indicated that Helen's death was caused by flowing hot lava. For a better examination the remains were sent to the Jeffersonian Institute, but because of the backlog Helen's remains had stayed in storage until recently.

The knife Helen obtained from the crossmok demon was strapped to her right leg on the day she died and the design from knife's handle was faintly imprinted on Helen's right femur. The knife also had a distinctive flaw at the tip of the blade when it was manufactured in the late 1980's and currently it was on the desk within half of an arm's length from Zack while setting next to the phone. Several artifacts from the same era as Helen were spread out on two tables next to Helen's remains.

Dr. Temperance Brennan casually stepped into the room. As Zach turned to look, Dr. Brennan asked, "So how is it going in here?"

"I have confusing puzzle," Zack simply stated.

"Explain," Dr. Brennan said.

Zack picked up the knife before saying, "This knife was found with Theodora."

"You named her Theodora?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Well, I didn't want to refer to her as the ancient African," Zack said. "In fact, I actually don't think she was an African. I found DNA markers that would indicate that she had ancestors from Greece and Egypt."

"Zack, I doubt that you call me in here to tell me where her ancestors were from," Dr. Brennan said.

"You're so right, Dr. Brennan," Zach said before holding up the knife. "Theodora had this knife on her before she died. All evidence points to that"

"Okay, where is the puzzler?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"This knife had never left this institute since it arrived three years ago, but it is the murder weapon to at least twelve ongoing in murder investigation that had occurred during the past fifteen years. The last match to this weapon was three weeks ago when Senator James Starks was assassinated."

"You made a mistake," Dr. Brennan suggested.

"I wish I had made a mistake, but I didn't," Zack said. "You're welcome to look for yourself; however, before you do you should know that the metal that the knife's blade is made out of wasn't even available back in Theodora's time. Theodora shouldn't have had even possessed the knife back then."

Dr. Brennan stepped up to examine Zack's work without saying another word. After thirty minutes of scrutinized work, Dr. Brennan came to the same conclusion that Zack had.

Dr. Brennan picked up the phone and dialed it. After a short wait, she said, "Booth, you need to get down here as soon as possible."

"What is it?" Booth asked.

"I don't want to say over the phone, plus you have to see this to believe it," Dr. Brennan said.

"Okay, I'll be there soon," Booth said. "Bye."

In Coshocton, Ohio, Jack, Kennedy, Dean and Sam had again rented a car to get around the city. Like before Jack drove and he had followed clues to the warehouse that Dr. Briers was using for his headquarters; however, when they got there the warehouse had been torched and the area was crawling with police and firemen. The fire was out and the firemen were packing up their equipment.

Jack had parked the car and as they were getting out an officer stepped up to them while asking, "May I help you four?"

Jack pulled out his badge and said, "I'm Jack Logan, an officer from the TEC government agency out of Washington, D.C." The officer took the badge and looked at it more closely. Kennedy, Dean and Sam stepped up to Jack's side. "TEC is an unofficial branch of homeland security. My associates and I were sent here to find out if this was a matter for national security."

The officer handed back the badge while saying, "You have my full cooperation, Officer Logan. How can I be an assistance?"

"You can start by telling me what you know," Jack said.

"Well, as you know the city is currently suffering a power outage," the officer began. "About thirty… forty minutes ago, witness saw four box-trucks leaving the warehouse in a hurry. Seconds later, the warehouse erupted into flames."

"What was in the warehouse," Sam asked.

"That's actually a good question," the officer said. "You see, the warehouse was supposed to have been empty."

"Did you get descriptions of the trucks?" Dean asked.

"Unfortunately not enough to put out an APB on them," the officer said.

"Is it okay if we look around?" Jack asked.

"Let me introduce you four to Lt. McEnroe and then you can ask him that," the officer said.

Jack gestured while saying, "Lead the way."

Once the officer escorted Jack, Kennedy, Dean and Sam to Lt. McEnroe, the officer introduced Jack. Jack was the one to introduce his associates.

"Officer Logan wants to look around," the officer added once the introductions were done.

"Is homeland security looking for anything specific?" Lt. McEnroe asked.

"I am not at the liberty to say," Jack said as Dean and Sam were gazing around. "It is important that I look around."

Lt. McEnroe took a deep breath before saying, "Fine, but since there is evidence of arson this is still a crime scene so I'm going to be at your side the entire time. And don't touch anything unless you put on gloves."

"Agreed," Jack said before the small group turned towards the warehouse.

They were approaching the entrance to the warehouse when Dean pointed towards a transformer on an electrical pole while saying, "Someone was stealing power."

"Good eye," Lt. McEnroe said. "The fire chief saw that too."

The original truck that Dr. Briers had used to steel the time-machine was inside the warehouse and was severely burned. Although the truck was scorched Jack recognized it immediately. He then saw the marks on the floor of the warehouse of where the time-machine was once set up.

"Lt. McEnroe, the officer outside told us that there were four box trucks leaving the scene before the fire," Jack began. "Do you know which direction they went?"

"The eyewitness saw the truck heading north from the warehouse," Lt. McEnroe said. "After that we don't know."

"Well, I've seen enough," Jack said.

"Since you barely looked, you must've seen what you were looking for," Lt. McEnroe said.

"I did, but again I'm not authorized to tell you anything," Jack said.

"Who is authorized?" Lt. McEnroe asked.

"Well, you can try Capt. Matuzek at TEC headquarters, but unless you have high government clearance most likely he won't tell you a thing either," Jack said. "Anyway, thanks for your cooperation." He then turned towards Kennedy, Dean and Sam. "We're done here." Kennedy was looking around in a manner as if she was looking for something. "Kennedy?"

"I heard you," Kennedy said as she continued to scan the room. "I was hoping that I can find something belonging to the perpetrator, but I'm not."

"Loose items were bagged and placed into evidence," Lt. McEnroe said. "And removing anything from a crime scene is a crime in itself."

Kennedy gave Lt. McEnroe a polite grin before saying, "And so it should be."

"Kennedy, let's go," Jack said.

Kennedy just nodded before she walked towards the exit followed by Jack, Dean, Sam and then Lt. McEnroe.

Jack, Kennedy, Dean and Sam walked towards their rental car and once they were out of earshot of Lt. McEnroe and the other officers, Kennedy said, "If I could find something belonging to Dr Briers I can do a locator spell on him and find out where he's at, at the time of the spell."

"You can do that?" Jack questioned.

"I was taught by the most powerful Wicca in North America… South America… probably the world," Kennedy said.

"I'll take that as a yes," Jack said before he pulled out his phone and typed out a phone number. There was a short paused before he spoke again. "Capt. Matuzek, Buffy was right, but once we got here, Dr. Briers was long gone. There was an eyewitness that saw four box trucks leaving Dr. Brier's hideout so once the power gets restored to this region, I suggest monitoring the traffic-cams while looking for four box trucks traveling together." He then told Capt. Matuzek the address before he continued to say, "Kennedy had suggested… well an unorthodox method by our perspective on finding Dr. Briers, but she needs something of his to do it."

"It must be something from him after he was sired," Kennedy quickly corrected.

"It must be something from him after he was sired," Jack repeat for Capt. Matuzek to hear. "I think that the local police had collected a few things from Dr. Briers' hideout that might work so perhaps you could pull some strings and get those items. Okay bye." Once he hung up, he faced his group. "We are to return to headquarters."

"Shouldn't we stay and search the city?" Sam questioned.

"We have no clue of where to look and I believe that Dr. Briers will take this time to skip town," Jack said.

"Even if he didn't leave town, we might want to give him sense of security," Kennedy added. "Vampires and demons tend to get sloppy when over confidant."

"That characteristics fall within the general population as well," Jack said.

"True," Kennedy said with a slight shrug. They then went to their respective car doors.

An hour later in Washington, D.C. at the Jeffersonian Institute, Zack, Angela Montenegro, Jack Hodgins and Camille Saroyan were present as Dr. Brennan was telling Agent Seeley Booth about Helen's skeletal remains and the knife that was linked to a few assassins.

After hearing the data, Booth questioned, "So you are telling me that there was no way for the imprint on… on Theodora's right femur to happen after her death."

"Zack and I both confirmed that the imprint and her death happen simultaneously," Dr. Brennan said.

"We even found very subtle signs of scar tissue staring to form at the imprint," Zack added.

"Since people can't heal that fast the scar tissue must've been from an injury a day or two prior to her death," Dr. Brennan quickly said.

"My tests confirmed that the scaring was at the imprint of the knife," Zach argued.

"It was a coincidence," Dr. Brennan retorted.

"Whoa-whoa," Booth quickly interrupted with. "You two are arguing over how fast Theodora was able to heal, but not that Theodora was in possession of a knife that wasn't even made or forged until hundreds of years later."

"Actually that particular style of knife was produced in the late 1980's," Hodgins said.

"So how did a woman a few hundreds years ago…" Booth was only able to get out.

"Fourteen to fifteen hundred years ago actually," Zack quickly corrected. Booth gave Zach a curious look. "She was alive around 600 A.D. give or take a hundred years."

"I don't care if she lived in 600 B.C." Booth quickly retorted. "How did she get in possession of a knife that was produced in the late 1980's which is allegedly a present day murder weapon?"

"It was plucked from time and placed in the past," Hodgins jokingly said. Booth glanced at him before appearing to go into a trance. "Booth!"

Before Booth was able to respond, Camille and Dr. Brennan said, "Booth."

When booth glanced at them, Camille asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Booth said. "Bones, come with me. You and I are going to talk to a retired detective."

"Okay," Dr. Brennan skeptically said. As they were entering the hallway, she continued to ask, "What's going on?"

"Weeks before we began working together I was at a local tavern just to unwind after getting off duty," Booth began. "Detective Snow the retired detective who we are going to go talk to was there and three-fourths wasted. He was complaining that one of his cases went bad because of a fingerprint."

"What does that have to do with us?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Detective Snow gained his reputation for solving cold cases," Booth began. "Anyway he was working on a cold case about a murder that happened in the year 1978 and the only clue to the suspected killer was an unidentified fingerprint. Years went by without a match on the fingerprint. Then in the year 2005 the computer spent out a match."

"That's good," Dr. Brennan said.

"Normally, yes; it would be good, but in this particular case it left Detective Snow with more questions than answers," Booth said. "And if I remember right that cold case was immediately closed with no arrests made."

"Why? What happened?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Well, according to Detective Snow, the fingerprints belonged to a person who wasn't even born until the year 1979," Booth said.

"So you're thinking that there's a connection between the fingerprints and the knife that Theodora had."

"Actually I don't know what to think of all this, but it's the only clue I have to go on to get answers." Booth then pulled out his phone and called his office for the current address on Detective Snow.

In a neighborhood that was once an upper class neighborhood a man in his early forties went to open the front door to his three-story house to find out who rang his doorbell.

The first floor of the house had an anteroom, a living room, a moderately size kitchen, a moderately size dining room and a half bathroom. The stairs leading up to the upper floors began in the anteroom near the front door. The stairs leading down into the basement was on the opposite end of the anteroom before entering the kitchen. The second and third floor each had four bedrooms and a full bathroom. After the third floor, the stairs continued upward into a good size attic.

When the man opened the front door and saw a man and woman, he asked, "Yes? May I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Rupert Giles and this is Buffy Summers. We're here to answer your ad about the house."

"Oh, hi, I'm Richard Cartwright," he said as he went to shake their hands while starting with Giles. "Please come in and I'll give you a tour." As Buffy and Giles were entering the house, he continued to say, "I'm a literature professor and strangely enough about four months ago this house was left to me in a will by one of my inspired students. I wanted to make a go at living here, but to be honest, this place is too large for me."

"I understand," Giles said. "We need a house big enough to house sixteen teenagers otherwise we wouldn't be looking for a home this size."

"Sixteen teenagers?" Richard quickly questioned while being slightly taken back. Buffy nodded with a grin. "Wow. Are you two foster parents?"

"Yes, in the sense that we are their legal guardians," Giles said.

"This is not any of my business, but are you two…" Richard was only able to get out.

"Friends," Buffy quickly said. "As in father and daughter type friends."

Richard politely grinned before saying, "Of course." He gestured towards a door that led into the living room. "Should we start the tour here?"

"Here is good," Buffy said.

As everyone was walking into the living room, Giles asked, "How much of the history do you know about the house?"

"Not much really," Richard said. "That information should be easily obtained at the record office though."

"How did your student die?" Buffy questioned.

"She was involved in a car accident that left her needing a kidney," Richard began. "She had no family so while in the hospital she made a will and left the house to me. It had been five years since she was my student so a day after her death it was a shock to me when a lawyer showed up at my door with the news." He then gestured to the room. "Anyway, this is the living room."

"It's roomy," Buffy said.

Richard gestured towards a door while questioning, "Are you ready to move on?"

"Lead the way," Giles said.

Richard left the room followed by Buffy and Giles.

In a quiet neighborhood, Booth and Dr. Brennan stepped up to the door leading to the downstairs apartment of a two-family apartment building. Booth was the one to knock on the door and after a minute, a man in his late fifties opened the door.

Booth showed his badge while saying, "Detective Snow, I'm Agent Booth and this is my partner Dr. Brennan."

"I'm retired Agent Booth so call me Ron," he said. "And you look familiar. Have we met Agent Booth?"

"We met briefly a few years ago," Booth said. "Can Dr. Brennan and I come in?"

"Of course," Ron said as he back up to allowed them to enter.

"Thank you," Dr. Brennan said as she and Booth stepped in.

"So refresh my memory, Agent Booth," Ron began. "Where did we meet?"

"I walked into a bar to unwind and you were in there going on about how one of your cases went bad because of a fingerprint," Booth said. "In fact, that's actually why Dr. Brennan and I are here. Can you remember whose fingerprints were found at that crime scene?"

"That case was close, Agent Booth," Ron said.

"I realize that and if I remember right, the case was closed because the owner to those fingerprints was born a year after the murder was committed," Booth said.

"That's right," Ron said. "The internal affairs got involve and said that the evidence became tainted."

"I can't give you the specifics, but I'm working on a case with a similar twist," Booth said. "So it would be helpful if I can get the name of the person who those fingerprints belong to."

Ron thought for a brief moment before saying, "After this many years, I can't remember the person's name, but the agents who came and collected the files were from the TEC government agency."

"I've been curious to know what goes on there and now I get my chance," Booth said.

"According to Hodgins TEC is a top secret agency and if it is, we might not get pass the reception," Dr. Brennan said.

"Saying the right things at the reception's desk could get us in further," Booth said.

"We don't even know what would be the right thing to say," Dr. Brennan said.

"So we'll wing it," Booth said. "Anyway, Ron, can you remember anything else that can be useful?"

"As far as murders go the killing was nothing out of the ordinary," Ron said. "The man was shot between the eyes with a nine-millimeter. That's pretty much it, Agent Booth."

Booth nodded before saying, "Thank you for your time."

"If you ever find out the truth about what really happen, I would appreciate it if you would keep me in the loop," Ron said.

"I can't promise anything," Booth said. "Goodbye, Detective."

"Bye," Ron and Dr. Brennan said before Dr. Brennan and Booth left the apartment.

At Richard's house Buffy, Giles and Richard were sitting at the kitchen table. Richard had given his asking price for the house. Giles thought that the price was reasonable, but slightly haggled the price down anyway. Once they agreed on a price, Buffy and Giles left the house.

At the TEC headquarters the reception area was empty except for the receptionist answering the phoned.

When Booth and Dr. Brennan stepped up to the receptionist, she asked, "May I help…" She stopped in mid-sentence when Booth showed her his badge. "You're Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI. How can I help you?"

Booth put his badge away while saying. "The woman with me is Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute and we are here to speak with the person in charge of this facility."

"That would be Capt. Eugene Matuzek," the receptionist said. "I'll contact him for you, but he will want to know why you're here."

"Tell him that I'm investigating a few murders and I think he can help me," Booth said. "Also when you talk to him, tell him this riddle. How does a modern day knife end up in ancient Africa?"

The receptionist thought for a moment before saying, "I'll bite. How does a modern day knife end up in ancient Africa?"

Booth grinned before saying, "I don't really have an answer to that riddle, but I'm hoping that Capt. Matuzek does. Now if you would call him for me I would appreciate it."

"You and Dr. Brennan can take a seat, while I make the call" the receptionist said.

"Thank you," Booth said before he and Dr. Brennan turned towards the many empty seats.

Once they sat down, Dr. Brennan saw Booth in deep thought. She tapped him on his arm before asking, "Is there anything wrong?"

"The name Eugene Matuzek sounds familiar to me, but I can seem to place it," Booth said as Buffy and Giles were coming though and saw the side of his face. "Anyway…"

Booth and Dr. Brennan heard a woman's voice near them while questioning, "Angel?" Booth and Dr. Brennan turned to look at the woman and the man stepping closer. "I'm sorry," Buffy said while staring directly into Booth's eyes. "From the side, you look just like somebody I knew."

"You are the second person in two separate countries who thought that Booth here looked like someone name Angel," Dr. Brennan said.

"If you're talking about the person in Italy, she called me Angelus," Booth said.

"Angelus is the Latinate for Angel," Dr. Brennan explained.

"Yeah, well the first person was off her rocker," Booth said. "She stepped up to me and called me daddy. She then started to pout and said something about the stars when she realized I was her daddy. She even growled and barked at me."

"Out of curiosity, when did you meet this woman in Italy?" Giles asked.

"It was last summer," Booth said. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular," Giles said.

"Anyway, I'm sorry to have trouble you," Buffy said.

"It's no trouble," Booth said. "I am curious to meet this Angel guy now."

"When that woman stepped up and called him Angelus, I was giving him trouble about the woman confusing him with the mythical vampire," Dr. Brennan said.

"What?" Giles surprisingly asked.

"Oh, there's a book out called, 'Legends and myths on night-stalkers,'" Dr. Brennan said. When Buffy gave Giles a curious look Giles just shrugged. "The book talks about Angelus' killing spree after he was turned into a vampire by Drusilla…"

"You mean Darla," Buffy quickly corrected.

"What?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Darla sired Angelus in 1753 and then in 1860 Angelus sired Drusilla," Buffy said.

"You know the myth?" Dr. Brennan questioned.

"I'm well verse on the subject of Angelus and other demons," Buffy said. "In fact, I've been studying demonology since high school and the only thing that keeps me from claiming to be an expert on the subject is that I don't hold a degree."

"So you probably know the myth on a demon back in the Middle Ages known as the Judge?" Dr. Brennan questioned.

"Very much so," Buffy said. "No weapon forged could kill the demon; however, an army was able to dismember it. Dismembering the Judge couldn't kill him though so each piece of the Judge was scattered throughout the world."

"I'm impressed," Dr. Brennan said. "You do know your myths." She then put out her hand to shake Buffy's hand. "By the way, I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute."

"You're Dr. Brennan?" Giles quickly asked as Dr. Brennan and Buffy shook hands "Did you write a book on the fictional character Kathy Reichs?"

"I did," Dr. Brennan said as she began to shake Giles hand. "Did you read it?"

"I did," Giles said. "It was a fascinating read."

"I'm glad you enjoyed," Dr. Brennan said. "Oh and Angel's look-a-like is Special Agent Seeley Booth."

Buffy glanced at Booth while questioning, "You're a FBI agent?"

"I am," Booth said. "What are your names?"

"I'm Buffy Summer and he's Rupert Giles," she said.

"Do you two work here?" Booth asked.

"We're doing contract work," Buffy said.

"What kind of work is that?" Booth asked.

"Sorry, Agent Booth, we can't answer that," Buffy said while crossing her arms.

"You couldn't give me a hint?" Booth questioned.

"I would like to, but we can't," Buffy said. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you two, but Giles and I have work to do."

"Of course," Dr. Brennan said. "Perhaps we can get together sometime and you can tell me about other demon myths that you know."

"Any time," Buffy said. "Just call here and ask for me. We can have lunch together and I'll tell you exciting stories about those myths."

"Great," Dr. Brennan said.

"Bye," Buffy and Giles said followed by Booth and Dr. Brennan.

When Buffy and Giles walked away, the receptionist told Booth and Dr. Brennan, "I've spoken with Capt. Matuzek and he is interested with meeting you two so he'll be calling me back in a few minutes to let me know when you two can go on up."

"Okay, thanks," Booth said while glancing at his watch which was showing 9:50 A.M.

As Giles and Buffy were out of earshot of Booth and Dr. Brennan, Giles commented, "I advise against you having lunch with Dr. Brennan and talking about demons."

"Dr. Brennan thinks that everything on demonology is a myth," Buffy said as they were approaching the elevator. "So if she wants to know more about demonology, then I don't see the harm of telling her all about it while pretending that it's a myth."

"Just be careful," Giles said as he pressed the elevator's call button. One of the elevator doors opened up right away.

"I'll be careful," Buffy said as they walk towards the opened elevator. "I'm curious about the book 'Legends and myths on night-stalkers' and who authored it."

"So am I," Giles said as they entered the elevator. "I'll make a few calls and try to get my hands on a copy."

"I'll check around too while starting with the Internet," Buffy said as she pressed the button for the floor.


	35. Chapter 35

At 9:55 A.M., Willow and Valerie were called into Capt. Matuzek's office. Once they stepped in Capt. Matuzek handed each of them a personnel list along with a small stack of the revised protocols for the building while saying, "I divided the list of personnel in half. Each person on the list gets a revised copy of the protocols."

"Since today's Sunday there must be a lot of people out," Valerie said. "So what do we do when someone isn't here?"

"Phone calls have been sent out to all off duty personnel," Capt. Matuzek said. "Although it is slightly unusual for the off duty personnel to be asked to come in for only the revised protocol everyone personnel have been instructed to show before 3:00 P.M. to receive a copy."

"So you're expecting us to be collecting signatures for five hours?" Valerie questioned.

"Perhaps not quite that long, but it will take you a while," Capt. Matuzek said as the phone rang. He then gestured for Willow and Valerie to wait with one hand as he clicked on the speakerphone with his other hand. "Capt. Matuzek here."

"Eugene, it's Avery again," the man said. "So are my agent and Dr. Brennan in the office."

"Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan should be knocking on my door any minute," Capt. Matuzek told the director of the FBI for the past three years. "I will put you on hold until they get here."

"Sure," Avery said.

Capt. Matuzek put Avery on hold before saying, "Okay, Willow; Valerie you two are free to do what you need to do."

"Yes, Captain," Willow and Valerie said before turning towards the door.

Booth and Dr. Brennan were walking towards Capt. Matuzek's office just as Willow and Valerie were stepping into the hall.

Willow gave Booth a double take before questioning, "Angel?"

Booth and Dr. Brennan gave Willow a slightly stunned look before Booth said, "Okay, you're the second person within thirty minutes to call me Angel."

As the two groups stepped closer to one another, Willow said, "I can see now that you're not him." Valerie glanced at Dr. Brennan in an uncomfortable manner before facing away. "You do slightly favor him though."

"We got that from a woman name… I want to say Bunny," Booth said as Willow began to sense what Valerie was sensing with Dr. Brennan.

Willow slightly grinned at what Booth had said while she and Dr. Brennan corrected him, "It's Buffy."

Willow gazed at Dr. Brennan while continuing to say, "I'm Willow. Buffy and I have been best friends since high school."

"Nice to meet you Willow," she said while offering her hand to shake hands. "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute. Angel's look-a-like is Special Agent Seeley Booth."

As Willow and Dr. Brennan shook hands, Booth said, "Maybe Angel is my look-a-like. Did you ever think of that?"

"Yeah, anyway this is Valerie," Willow said while gesturing to her.

Valerie gave Dr. Brennan a polite grin before timidly saying, "Hi."

"It was nice meeting you both," Dr. Brennan said.

"If you ladies excuse us, we have a meeting with Capt. Matuzek," Booth said.

Willow slightly held up the papers while saying, "We have something to get to anyway. Bye."

"Bye," Dr. Brennan said as Booth nodded with a polite grin.

Buffy, Giles, Xander and Dawn were in the office while reading Internet pages on the book of 'Legends and myths on night-stalkers.' Hunter was in the floor scribbling on a piece of paper with a pen. After the four read a few pages, they learned that the author of the book was Alfred Whales from London England. Before authoring the book he was one of the firemen who were dispatched to the scene of the original Watcher's Council headquarters after the headquarters blew up.

"Bloody hell," Giles emotionally uttered. "This twit had to have found the watcher's journals in the rumble after the council was destroyed."

"The guy thought they were myths," Dawn said as the door opened to the room. "That's good. Isn't it?"

"It is," Buffy said as everyone turned towards the door to see who was coming in.

When Willow and Valerie stepped in and saw that all eyes were on them, Willow said, "Valerie and I ran into Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan outside Capt. Matuzek's office."

"Agent Booth looks like Angel," Xander said. "Dawn and I got the memo."

"Here's something that wasn't in the memo," Willow began. "Dr. Brennan is bugged in the same manner as Dr. Easter and Brandon."

Giles took of his glasses while questioning, "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Valerie said.

"Valerie and I both felt it," Willow added.

"I'll let Capt. Matuzek know," Buffy said.

"You can't do it now," Valerie said. "She and Agent Booth are talking with Capt. Matuzek at the moment."

"I wonder what an FBI agent and an anthropologist are talking with Capt. Matuzek about." Xander wondered aloud.

"Capt. Matuzek has to be told, so he won't say anything wrong in front of Dr. Brennan," Giles said.

As Buffy picked up the phone she said, "I'll call him and tell him." There was a short pause before she went to hang up. "It went directly into voicemail." She stood up. "I better go and tell him."

"You're going to interrupt?" Dawn questioned.

"I'm going to have to," Buffy said. "We can't take the chance that Capt. Matuzek will say anything."

After Buffy stepped out, Willow said, "Val, we might as well get to work collecting those signatures." Valerie just nodded.

In the hall outside Capt. Matuzek's office, Booth and Dr. Brennan were leaving the office. Booth was the last one out and when the door was shut, he said, "Okay, something is definitely going on."

"I agree, but you were ordered by the director of the FBI not to pursue the matter," Dr. Brennan said.

"Isn't it bothering you that you have to turn over everything pertaining to what was found to the TEC agency?" Booth questioned.

"Well, Zack was the one who found it, so he might be bothered that Theodora and everything pertaining to her remains will have to be turned over," Dr. Brennan said.

"So you're okay with being told to drop this case?"

"I would like to know the truth, but you heard your boss. We can't pursue the matter without disobeying him."

"I can't, but you can."

Dr. Brennan saw the wheels in Booth's head spinning. She gave a Booth a curious look before asking, "How can I pursue the matter?"

"You want to learn more about demonology from Bunny…"

"It's Buffy," Dr. Brennan corrected.

"Okay, Buffy," Booth repeated. "Anyway I'm going to encourage that and while you two are together I want you to subtly find out what you can about this facility."

"You want me to use Buffy to get information?" Dr. Brennan said as Buffy was entering the floor from the stairwell.

"I do," Booth said as he and Dr. Brennan caught sight of Buffy. "Now, shshsh."

"Buffy, we meet again," Dr. Brennan timidly commented.

Buffy gave Dr. Brennan a curious look before gesturing towards a door and saying, "Yes. I'm actually passing this way to go talk to Capt. Matuzek. Who are you two here to see?"

"We came to speak with Capt. Matuzek, but our business with him didn't take very long," Dr. Brennan said.

"So you two are leaving?" Buffy questioned.

"We are," Booth said.

"I would like to get with you very soon and talk about demonology," Dr. Brennan added. "Perhaps we can have lunch today."

"Today," Buffy mocked. "Can I get back with you on that?"

"Sure," Dr. Brennan said. "I'm going back to the Jeffersonian Institute, so you can reach me there."

"Okay," Buffy said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Dr. Brennan said followed by Booth.

As Dr. Brennan and Booth walked towards the elevators, Buffy stepped up and knocked on Capt. Matuzek's door.

"Enter," Buffy heard Capt. Matuzek saying. When Buffy stepped in Capt. Matuzek continued to say, "Buffy. What a coincidence. I was about to page you." He gestured towards a visitor's chair.

"What about?" Buffy asked while she took a seat.

"That crossmock demon you killed in the past had a knife," Capt. Matuzek said. "That knife was linked to several present day assassinations. Three years ago in Africa it was found with skeletal remains of ancient young woman; however, the knife and the remains had sat in storage at the Jeffersonian Institute until this morning when it was brought out for examination."

"Ooh," Buffy said in a tone to match her words. "That knife led Agent Booth here." Capt. Matuzek gave her a surprised look. "Agent Booth favors someone I know and I confronted him when I saw him in the reception area."

"Anyway, Agent Booth's knowledge of another incident is actually what gave him the clue to seek answers here about the knife," Capt. Matuzek said. "By no means is this the first time something had been left in the past that doesn't belong in the past, but in the future… well your future anyway, be more careful not to leave anything in the past that doesn't belong there."

Buffy politely grinned while saying, "Yes, Captain."

"So was there something you want to talk to me about?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"Yes," Buffy said. "Willow and Valerie ran into Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan outside your office. They sensed that Dr. Brennan is bugged as well." Capt. Matuzek gave Buffy a concerned look. "So I was actually trying to get here in time before you said anything that Lowkey shouldn't hear."

"Well, luckily the conversation was brief and uninformative… well uninformative for them anyway. They were told by their boss to drop the case and everything pertaining to the knife is to be turned over to us."

"So Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan don't know what goes on here?" .

"They don't and it stays that way. As far as debugging Dr. Brennan, I'll make up an excuse to get Dr. Brennan here so Willow can debug her at the same time as the others."

"Debugging Dr. Brennan at the same time as your personnel might become dangerous for the people at the Jeffersonian Institute if there are more people bugged."

"Unless you have an idea that can solve that, we can't worry about that."

"I may have an idea."

"I'm listening."

"When we spoke in the reception area, demonology was brought up. Dr. Brennan knows a little about demonology; except she thinks it is all myths. I impressed her with my knowledge of the subject and she wants to learn more from me about it. I think I can probably manage to get a tour of the Jeffersonian Institute and during that tour, Willow and Valerie could find out who all are bugged."

"And then debug everyone at the same time," Capt. Matuzek finished Buffy's sentence.

"Exactly."

"Okay, I'll give you a few hours."

"Thank you, Captain."

Capt. Matuzek nodded before asking, "Is there anything else I need to know about?"

"That's all I have."

"Okay, well, before you leave, you should know that your hunch about Coshocton, Ohio was right; however, when Jack and the others got there, they were long gone."

"So we're starting from scratch."

"I was told that your group had an unorthodox method of finding Dr. Briers, but you need something belonging to him after he was sired…"

"Well, if we had something of his, Willow could do a locator spell," Buffy interrupted with.

"A locator spell," Capt. Matuzek mocked in a skeptical tone. Buffy just nodded with a grin. "Anyway, I had ordered everything that was found at Dr. Briers' former makeshift headquarters to be brought here. Hopefully there will be something useful mixed in the items that will help Willow with her 'locator spell.'"

"Let's hope."

"Jack and your crew are on their way back. And that's really all I have."

Buffy stood up before saying, "I don't really have anything going on, so you can find me and my group in the gym working out if you need us." Capt. Matuzek just nodded. Buffy then turned and walked out.

At the Jeffersonian Institute in an examination room with the remains of a murder victim that was found six that morning, Dr. Brennan and Booth had told Zach, Hodgins, Angela, Camille what the director of FBI had said.

"Theodora is a unique find," Zach said. "How can we be expected to turn everything over to the TEC agency?"

"This is another government cover up what it is," Hodgins said.

"Normally, I would say that you're just being paranoid," Booth began. "Not this time though. Something is going on and the FBI director is involved."

"I smell corruption within the FBI," Hodgins said with a grin. "I like it."

Booth gave him a 'get serious' look before saying, "I wouldn't go that far. Anyway Bones and I have a plan to find out more."

"If you and Dr. Brennan come up missing, I'll know why," Hodgins said.

"Okay, we have work to do," Camille said while gesturing to the remains. "So let's get to it people. This crime isn't going to solve itself."

"So what do we have so far?" Dr. Brennan asked.

Two hours later, Buffy while carrying a few books on mundane demons had met Dr. Brennan at a local diner. After being seated and ordering their food, Dr. Brennan began to flip through one of the books.

She only flipped through a few pages before asking, "So what does a demonology expert do for the TEC agency?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "I can't answer that, Dr. Brennan."

"Please call me Temperance."

"Okay. Temperance."

"So, Buffy, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?" Buffy took a deep breath before she began answering the question.

At the local FBI headquarters, Booth was alone and said aloud while gazing at the computer screen, "Buffy Anne Summers; born in Los Angeles in the year 1981. Attended Hemery high school in L.A. her freshman year and was expelled for the suspicion of burning down the gym. No hard evidence was found so no formal charges were filed. She then spent two weeks in a L.A. mental institution soon after. After being release from the mental institution you, your mother and baby sister moved to Sunnydale, California. Whoa, Sunnydale. You're from that crater. Anyway after moving to Sunnydale, your record became… whoa, a lot more interesting than catching a L.A. high school on fire." Booth than picked up his phone and dialed information. He then got the number to the mental institution that Buffy was in. After writing down the number, he dialed it. "Yes, I'm Special Agent Booth out of Washington, D.C. I'm in the middle of an investigation that involves a Buffy Anne Summer and according to her records, she was admitted to your facility in the year 1996. Why was she admitted? Yes, I have heard of patient-doctor confidentiality, but… okay fine. I will be making a formal request to get that court order. Bye." He hung up the phone. "

Before the meal arrived, Buffy shared the boring details of her life in Sunnydale with Dr. Brennan without mentioning anything about fighting demons.

After the waitress brought their food and they began eating, Dr. Brennan made a few attempts to gather information. Buffy just smiled the questions away while saying, "I can't answer that."

Once they were done eating and the check was paid, Dr. Brennan and Buffy went their respective ways with Dr. Brennan feeling dissatisfied about not getting the information that she was seeking. However, she thought that she had another chance to get that information when she Okayed a tour of the Jeffersonian Institute for Buffy and her group.

At 2:25 P.M., Willow and Valerie went to catch up to Capt. Matuzek in the hallway. While they were catching up, Willow said, "We finished collecting the signatures and we found seven personnel being bugged."

"That many?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Yes, Captain," Willow said while handing Capt. Matuzek the list. He began to look over it.

"I felt something different with one of them?" Valerie added which was the first time Willow was hearing about it.

"Different how?" Capt. Matuzek asked as he looked up from the list.

Valerie took a second to think about the right words before saying, "A more intense feeling I guess would best describe it."

"Explain," Capt. Matuzek said.

"Blake Carlson is the person who I'm getting the intense feeling with and when I look at him, I'm actually feeling two separate existences within one body," Valerie said.

"Do you mean like someone being spiritually possessed?" Willow questioned.

Valerie shrugged while saying, "If I had met a possessed person before then I probably could tell you, but I never have so I don't know the answer to that."

"Okay, well, let's error on the side of caution and assume that the answer to my question is yes," Willow said.

"That's fine with me," Valerie said.

"Are you telling me that one of my Time-Cops is being controlled by a spirit?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"I don't believe that's the case," Willow said. "Lowkey had gotten someone in to set the fire and steal those journals, so I'm thinking that Lowkey is able to control Blake like a puppet-master would control a puppet. Of course, this is just a conjecture from past experiences."

"Will you be able to eliminate that control over Blake?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"If I'm right about Lowkey being the puppet master then I'm thinking that Lowkey will lose his control over Blake when I cast the spell to eliminate the bugs," Willow said.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed that you're right," Capt. Matuzek said. "Now, I think Buffy had scheduled a tour for your group at the Jeffersonian Institute so you can identify the bugs there."

"Yes," Willow said. "Val, let's go find Buffy and the others."

"Keep me informed," Capt. Matuzek said.

"We will," Willow said just before she and Valerie walked away.

At the Jeffersonian Institute Booth had walked up to Dr. Brennan as she was examining the remains of a victim.

Booth had a serious expression on his face and when Dr. Brennan saw him, she said, "You look troubled. Is there anything wrong?"

"I ran a background check on our new friend Buffy," Booth said as Zack stepped in.

Before Booth could go into details about Buffy, Zack said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, Agent Booth. Dr. Brennan, there's a small group of people here asking for you. One of them said that her name is Buffy Summers."

"Buffy's here?" Booth quickly questioned.

"I just said that, Agent Booth," Zack said.

"I invited Buffy here for a tour and I told her to bring whoever she wants," Dr. Brennan said.

"The background check on Buffy showed her has having a problematic past and you shouldn't leave her or her group without an escort," Booth said.

"My past can be viewed as being problematic," Dr. Brennan said.

"Your past had extenuating circumstances and you rise above it," Booth said.

"Perhaps her past had extenuating circumstances," Dr. Brennan said.

"Why are you defending her?" Booth questioned.

"I consider myself a good judge of character and she seems to be an okay person to know," Dr. Brennan said.

"No matter what your feeling is telling you, you don't need to leave her alone," Booth strongly suggested.

"Agent Booth, all visitors are to be accompanying with an escort regardless," Zack said.

"Well, that's all you had to say from the beginning," Booth said.

Booth, Dr. Brennan and Zach left the examination room to greet Buffy, Willow, Xander and the four charmed slayers. Giles and Dawn with Hunter stayed behind at TEC headquarters.

When Dr. Brennan, Booth and Zack stepped up to Buffy and her group at the entrance, Buffy and Dr. Brennan did the introductions.

Once the introductions were done, Booth stared into Buffy's eyes while saying, "I done a background check on you. You burn down a high school gymnasium in Los Angeles and were institutionalized for a short time afterwards at the age of fifteen…"

"It was never proven that I was responsible for the fire, Agent Booth and as far as being institutionalized, I told my parents that I saw vampires and they overreacted and sent me to a clinic," Buffy said. "In fact, learning demonology was more of a therapy for me than a hobby."

"I hope you still don't believe in vampires?" Zack commented.

"I know what's real and what's not," Buffy said.

"In any case, your background check got even more interesting when you, your mother and sister moved from L.A. to Sunnydale," Booth said. "And in most of those incidences the police was left with more questions than answers."

"If I was guilty of any crimes, Agent Booth, I would have been arrested," Buffy retorted.

"Booth, back off," Dr. Brennan said.

"I don't know what you're doing for the TEC agency, but while you and your group are in D.C. all of you had better keep your noses clean," Booth said.

"Booth! Back off!" Dr. Brennan repeated more demandingly.

"I'm just saying," Booth said as he backed up a couple of steps.

"Booth can be all business from time to time," Dr. Brennan said apologetically.

"Don't apologize for me," Booth said.

"It's fine, really," Buffy said. "Agent Booth, you're not the first FBI agent who done a background check on me and warned me not to step out of line, so I'm used to being warned."

"It's not surprising," Booth said.

"Anyway, is everyone ready for the tour?" Dr. Brannan asked Buffy's group.

"We're ready," everyone said.

Before taking too many steps, Willow commented, "I'm surprised this facility is open on a Sunday."

"Not too many personnel works on a Sunday, but since our forensic team work closely with the police and FBI this place is open seven days a week," Zack said.

"How many employees are out?" Willow asked.

"Over half," Zack said.

"Is there a reason that you want to know how many employees are out?" Booth said.

"I'm just trying to get a feel as to how many people work here, that's all," Willow said.

"You're a naturally suspicious person, Agent Booth," Valerie said.

"Was that a question?" Booth asked.

"It was just a rhetorical observation actually," Valerie said with a polite grinned. Booth just gave Valerie a curious look. "I probably shouldn't have said anything."

During the tour Booth had remained with tour group. Valerie had to concentrate to block out the suspicion emotion that she was picking up from Booth.

The tour lasted for an hour and during the tour, Willow and Valerie only sensed one more person who was bugged, which was a janitor named Chuck.

Just after the tour was over, Buffy contacted Capt. Matuzek to tell him the situation. Once Buffy hung up, Capt. Matuzek contacted Camille Dr. Brennan's boss and told her how he needed to see Dr. Brennan and Chuck.

Camille thought that the request was unusual, but had told Dr. Brennan and Chuck to go see Capt. Matuzek.

Minutes later, in front of the TEC headquarters, Faith, Alexis, Jack, Kennedy, Dean, Sam, Buffy, Buffy's group, Dr. Brennan, Booth and Chuck were all arriving at the same time. Dr. Brennan, Booth and Chuck arrived in a separate vehicle from Buffy and her group, but were part of Buffy's group.

Faith and Kenney gave Booth a long stare as the three groups were approaching each other, but before anyone could say a word, a dimensional portal opened up and twenty-five Flortec crusaders marched out of it. The amulet that Faith was carrying glowed bright enough for people to see.

"What the hell is this?" Booth quickly blurted out.

"They're Flortec crusaders," Alexis quickly blurted out.

Before anything else could be said, Willow shot out electrical bolts from her fingertips with a crackling sound while blowing up the eight lead demons with a loud thundering boom and draining her powers. Blood and entrails were splattered on the surviving crusaders. The few bystanders there were took off running for their lives.

"Shit!" Booth exclaimed while pulling out his gun.

Buffy, Xander, Faith, Kennedy, Dean, Sam, Jack and the four charmed slayers rushed the demons.

Alexis and Chuck just remained back and watched. Chuck had an awe expression on his face while having trouble believing in what he is seeing.

At the onset of the skirmish, Booth pointed his gun towards the group while not really comprehending what was really happening.

Dr. Brennan was standing next to Booth and quickly blurted out "My God. Demons are real."

"What?" Booth questioned without taking his eyes off of the fight that was taking place before him. Dr. Brennan never answered Booth and being a black belt in the martial arts she rushed in to help fight off the demons. "Crap!" Booth then put his gun away and rushed in to fight behind Dr. Brennan.

There were six females among the surviving Flortec crusaders and two of them had a staff. One of them raised her staff towards Faith, but before she was able to use it, Alexis yelled, "Faith, look out! One of them is about to use her staff!"

Faith heard Alexis and turned to look. As the crusader fired an electrical discharge, Faith jump in time to missed the blast.

The crusader then faced Alexis with her staff. Alexis saw that she was the next target and dashed as fast as she could to take cover behind a parked car before the crusader could fire on her.

Willow was recovering from her power drain and she saw that the crusader was about to fire towards Alexis. Just as the crusader fired, Willow quickly rattled off a spell that reflected the electrical discharge away from the car. The crusader stopped firing when she saw her blast reflected away. Willow continued to rattle off her spell as fast as she could and reflected the original blast several more times until it was heading for the crusader who fired it. The incident took only a few seconds and the crusader couldn't dodge the blast and was immediately disintegrated.

Amber's ribs didn't have time to heal from her skirmish with the crossmock demon during the last mission into the past. She tried to ignore the pain as much as she could, but when two crusaders began fighting her at the same time, she received more damaging blows than she was able to dish out. She went down within a short time. One of the crusaders was about to take the final blow to finish her off, but before he could, Dr. Brennan knocked him off of Amber.

Kennedy took the second crusader and while Amber was free for the moment, Kennedy ordered, "Amber, fall back!"

Amber's brother, Harry was driving up and saw the skirmish. When he saw Amber limping out of the center of the fight, he stopped the car; jumped out and ran to his sister's aid.

Another crusader had reached Amber first and knocked her back without knocking her down. Before she was able to retaliate, Harry rushed in and began to pound on the crusader.

The crusaders' ranks were quickly dwindling while Buffy's group had only sustained mild to moderate injuries. Amber had the most and worst injuries, but her injuries weren't bad enough to take herself out of the fight.

When the last female crusader with a staff saw that the battle was lost she opened up a portal with her staff and then signaled a retreat to the other twelve surviving crusaders. As the crusaders were attempting to make their escape, Willow rattled off a spell and fired upon the portal while the last crusader was entering. The portal erupted in a serious of firework-colors before disappearing.

Giles, the TEC security and a few timecops rushed out when the portal was disappearing. When Giles saw that the commotion was over, he instructed the security to section off the area.

Buffy quickly stepped up to Willow and asked, "Will, what did you hit them with?"

Booth was whipping himself in every direction to determine if it was over.

"Actually, I just redirected the portal to the Rogmogg dimension," Willow said while noticing a good gash across Buffy's cheek. "Since we were never imprisoned there briefly in this reality it should still be an inescapable hell dimension."

Booth quickly stepped up to Buffy while demanding to know, "Who are you people and what in hell just happened?"

"Okay, here's the cliff note version," Buffy began as everyone gathered around. "Vampires and demons are real." She pointed people out as she continued to say, "Willow is a powerful witch. Faith, Kennedy, Amber and I are slayers; AKA vampire slayers. Nichole, Cat and Valerie are charm-slayers. Charm-slayers are potential-slayers with their slayer abilities awaken though magic and not by being chosen by The Powers That Be. Dean and Sam are demon hunters. We were hired by Capt. Matuzek to track down and stop Dr. Briers. He is a recently sired vampire and he had stolen something belonging to the TEC agency."

"Dr. Briers?" Dr. Brennan quickly questioned. "Dr. Julius Briers?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "I take it that you heard of him."

"I knew…" Dr. Brennan tapered off the word 'him' as she was noticing that Buffy's gash looked much older than it actually was. "That gash across your face looks several hours to a day old."

Buffy slightly rubbed her wound while saying, "Fast healing is one of the perks of being a slayer."

Dr. Brennan turned towards Booth while saying, "Theodora was a slayer. Zack was right. Theodora's leg did begin to heal before she died."

"I never heard of a slayer name Theodora," Willow commented.

"Zack named her," Dr. Brennan said. "She lived over fourteen hundred years ago. Her remains were found in Africa a few years ago, but her DNA markers indicate that she had Greek and Egyptian ancestors."

"That's sounds like Helen," Cat casually commented.

Buffy gave Cat a harsh look as if to say, "Don't tell her." When Cat saw Buffy's look she realized what she had done and started to nervously fidget.

"You know an ancient slayer named Helen?" Dr. Brennan questioned.

Buffy gestured towards Giles while saying, "Meet Rupert Giles. He and I are the lead members of the organization known as the Watcher's Council. Watcher's has several objectives that includes, training slayers or potential slayers and keeping a daily journals on them. Helen was the first slayer to have a watcher."

"So you knew about Helen through the watcher's journals?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"Well, those particular journals had been destroyed centuries ago, but five years after Helen's journals were lost, an aficionado of Helen's triumphs wrote down what he could remember," Giles said. "The aficionado even included how she and her watcher Ramsay had died."

"How did Helen and Ramsay die?" Cat asked.

"The two charged up a volcano as it was ready to erupt to stop a demon and they never made it back down," Giles said.

"Helen did," Dr. Brennan said. Giles gave her a curious look. "Her remains were found at the foot of the volcano."

Buffy gestured towards the entrance while saying, "Dr. Brennan, Capt. Matuzek is waiting see you and…" Buffy looked at Chuck. "Chuck, right?" Chuck just nodded. "Anyway, he's waiting for us to meet him in the large conference room, so we should move this discussion inside."

"Lead the way," Dr. Brennan said.

"Any volunteers to help me dispose of these corpses?" Giles requested before anyone could walk away. Dean, Sam, Faith and the charmed slayers volunteered to help.

"Alexis," Buffy blurted out.

"Yes?" Alexis questioned.

"Welcome and I'll get with you when things calm down around here," Buffy said.

Alexis grinned before saying, "No problem."

"Is Alexis a slayer or charmed-slayer?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"No, she's just someone who wants to learn from us," Buffy said as she turned towards the entrance and walked towards it. Willow, Booth, Dr. Brennan and Chuck followed.

"Okay," Dr. Brennan skeptically said. "So how does a person become a slayer?"

As Buffy, Willow, Booth, Dr. Brennan and Chuck were making their way to the conference room, Buffy and Willow filled them in on how young teenaged women get chosen to become slayers.

Just before getting off the elevator after the door opened up, Booth asked, "Off the record, you set fire to Hemery high school's gym, didn't you?"

"Well, it was filled with vampires," Buffy said before stepping off the elevator. Everyone followed her off the elevator.

"So every questionable thing you did that is listed on your record has to do with you fighting demons and vampires?" Booth questioned.

"It was," Buffy said. "I'm actually a high ethical person, Agent Booth."

"I told Booth that there might be an extenuating circumstances for your questionable past," Dr. Brennan said.

"Yes, you did," Booth said. "Now that I know what they are, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Buffy just gave Booth a grin as they continued to walk down the hall.


	36. Chapter 36

Capt. Matuzek, the seven bugged personnel and six personnel who weren't bugged were in a conference room. The six personnel who weren't bugged were only there so Lowkey doesn't get wise of the situation before Willow can debug the others. Capt. Matuzek was on the phone and learning about the skirmish that just took place outside while the others were talking among themselves.

Just as Capt. Matuzek went to hang up the phone Buffy entered the room followed by Dr. Brennan, Willow and Booth.

When Capt. Matuzek saw who were entering, he said, "I just been informed about what went on outside. If you want to postpone this meeting for an hour or so I'll understand."

"No, I'm…" Buffy said before stopping in mid-sentence. "Actually I would like for you to wait about an hour and then start the meeting without me."

"Shouldn't you be here to explain things?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Willow is the only one you really need for this meeting," Buffy said. "But for a few minutes I need Willow to do something."

Willow gave Buffy a curious look as Capt. Matuzek told the group, "Okay, we are postponing this meeting for an hour, so everyone can leave for now." The sounds of shuffling chairs were loud as everyone stood up. "Just be back in an hour."

As Buffy and Willow were stepping into the hall, Willow said, "You're planning something. What is it?" Buffy whispered her plans into Willow's ear. "Buffy, I'm not sure if Valerie is ready for anything like that."

"The spell you're going to do isn't dark or very power so why not?" Buffy questioned.

"True to both, but the spell still requires an experience witch," Willow explained. "Valerie is an amateur and the chances of her getting it right the first time will be fifty-fifty. If she misses, Lowkey will be tipped off at what you're up to."

"He's going to be tipped off at what I'm up to when you eliminate the bugs, Will, but if we do this simultaneously than we can catch him with a little surprised," Buffy said. "Plus I'll take Faith and the crew along so if Valerie doesn't get the spell right I'll at least have the fire power if Lowkey decides to retaliate."

"All right," Willow said. "I'll show Val how to do the spell solo."

"Okay, go to the office and get set," Buffy said. "I'll go round up the group."

An hour later, Buffy, Faith, Kennedy, Dean, Sam and the charmed slayers stepped up to the back door of the demon bar. Buffy knocked in the manner of how she was told to knock. When the door was opened everyone stepped in.

In the conference room at the TEC headquarters, Willow told the group, "I'll explain why everyone is here, but before I do I need to say a few things." She then began her spell while speaking in Latin. Dr. Brennan understood the words, but not the phrase or what Willow was doing.

Buffy and her group were standing in the center of the demon bar with twenty demons and ten vampires staring harshly at them.

"What do you need, humans?" the demon bartender asked as Buffy was looking at her watch.

Buffy ignored the demon and told Valerie, "Do it."

When Valerie began to rattle of the exact spell that Willow was doing, the demon bartender asked, "What is she doing?"

In Lowkey's lair, Lowkey watched what was going on at both locations while asking, "What are you up to, Slayer?"

The spell lasted for five minutes and as it was being completed by Willow and Valerie, the shimmering glasses Lowkey were looking into to spy on Buffy's group had shattered. Each person who was mystically bugged had experienced a brief dizziness.

When Buffy saw the side effects of the spell, she asked, "Valerie?"

Valerie grinned before saying, "It worked."

At Lowkey's lair, Lowkey was violently upset and cursing Buffy with each breath.

In the conference room at the TEC headquarters, Booth demanded to know, "What just happened?"

"It's okay," Willow reassured everyone. "The ones who experienced dizziness were mystically bugged by a demon name Lowkey. Lowkey was using you to spy on us. The spell I cast had eliminated those bugs though."

"You can't be serious," Booth said.

"It's true," Capt. Matuzek said. He and Willow continued to explain things to everyone; however, the existence of a time machine was kept quiet during the explanation.

At the demon bar, Buffy spoke out, "Listen up! We just freed everyone here from Lowkey's thrall. Now I want answers. What kind of demon is Lowkey and where can I find him?"

"We honestly don't know the answers to those questions," the bartender said.

Valerie gazed around the room at the demons before saying, "He's telling the truth. They don't know… or the demons don't anyway. I can't read or feel the vampires' emotions."

"Okay, can any of you point me in the direction to someone who can?" Buffy questioned.

A burly demon stepped up as if to challenge Buffy while asking, "And why should we help you, Slayer?"

Buffy shook her head with a grin, before saying, "Okay, all the women are slayers. The two men are demon hunters. We're not here to fight, but if you and your companions want to challenge us, we will be glad to accommodate you."

"There is only one slayer called at a time and we out number you," the demon hissed.

The demon Malkye was there. He stepped up to the burly demon and whispered, "That's no longer true. I met another slayer besides her named Tabitha and I know of a third one. The third one is named Faith."

Faith heard Malkye and asked, "You heard of me, have you?"

"You're Faith?" Malkye questioned.

"I thought I made that clear, but yeah, I'm Faith," she said.

"So are you still eager to fight us?" Buffy questioned. The burly demon just back off while timidly looking away. "Now; who can point me the way to someone who can answer my questions?"

Valerie gazed around for a moment before resting her eyes on a demon. She then gestured towards him while saying, "This one is literally terrified…"

"I'm not terrified," the demon quickly interrupted with.

"My friend here is empathic," Buffy said. "If she says you're terrified then I believe her. Now is it us that you're terrified of or is it that you know something and you don't want to share?" The demon just turned away. "I'm thinking it's the latter, so start sharing or I'm going to get a little testy."

The demon looked at Buffy again and hesitated before he timidly said, "I'll be killed if I talk."

"Hey, I'm a slayer and you're a demon," Buffy retorted. "So you're running that risk if you don't talk. And for incentive for you to tell me what I want to know, I tend to torture knowledgeable vampires or demons until I get the information I want."

"She really does," Kennedy added. "It's really not a pretty sight."

"The wizard can answer your questions," the demon finally said. "Go see the wizard."

"Where can I find this wizard?" Buffy asked.

"And if the words out of your mouth are to 'follow the yellow brick road' then I'm going to torture you," Faith added.

The demon gave Faith a confused look before saying, "I don't know where he is."

"He's telling the truth," Valerie said.

"Okay, can anyone tell me where I can find this wizard?" Buffy asked the crowd.

"No," was the general response.

"Everyone's telling the truth," Valerie again said.

"Isn't this just dandy," Dean sarcastically said as Buffy's cell phone rang. "The whereabouts of the only one who can tell us how to find Lowkey is also unknown."

Buffy glanced at who was calling before answering with, "What's happening on your end, Will?"

"TEC is mystically bugged free," Willow said. "All the former affectees remember feeling a slight dizzy-sensation just after eating Chinese food from a Chinese restaurant and reading an unusual fortune from a fortune cookie."

"Do you know which Chinese restaurant?" Buffy asked. There was then a short pause. "We'll find it. Meet us there. Bye." Buffy hung up her phone before glancing at her group. "We're done here."

At TEC headquarters, Capt. Matuzek was walking though the halls and saw Dawn and Hunter walking down the hall with a teenaged woman he had never seen before. Dawn held Hunter's hand as he walked at her side.

Capt. Matuzek stepped up to them and said, "Young lady, you must be, Alexis Wilson."

"You heard of me?" Alexis questioned while being surprised.

"I'm Capt. Matuzek; the commander of this facility," He said. "One of my rules is that no one enters this building without my knowledge. Plus Buffy told me this morning that she was expecting the arrival of a new student."

"So what do you do here?" Alexis asked.

Capt. Matuzek grinned before saying, "This is a top secret facility, so your question will have to go unanswered. Also you are not to walk through the halls without Dawn or someone from her group being with you."

Alexis gave Capt. Matuzek the thumbs up sign while saying, "Yes, Capt. Matuzek."

"Dawn, I haven't had the chance to get with you since you've been back," Capt. Matuzek said. "Have you decided on what you're going to do?"

"I talked it over with my husband and we both agree that I should take your job offer," Dawn said. "Brody is making moving arrangements and will join me here in D.C. as soon as he can."

"So he doesn't mind leaving the family architect business?" Capt. Matuzek asked.

"He's not leaving it," Dawn said. "He's going to open up a branch here in D.C."

"That's great," Capt. Matuzek said. "I'm glad that things will work out for you. Anyway, since things are finally calmed down a little around here, I'm leaving for the rest of the day. See me in the morning after six and you can fill out all the required employment forms."

"Yes, Captain," Dawn said. "Good night."

"Good night," Capt. Matuzek said.

"It's nice meeting you, Capt. Matuzek," Alexis said.

"Likewise, Alexis," Capt. Matuzek said. When he walked away, Dawn, Hunter and Alexis continued down the hall.

Buffy, Buffy's group, Willow, Booth and Dr. Brennan were all forming up outside the Chinese restaurant. Buffy gave Booth and Dr. Brennan a curious look before asking, "Agent Booth, why are you and Temperance here?"

"Lowkey involved us when he violated Bones," Booth said. "So…"

"What? What bones?" Buffy asked.

"He calls me Bones," Dr. Brennan said.

"Ah," Buffy said.

"Now are you ready to go inside?" Booth asked. "Or do Bones and I go in without you?"

"Agent Booth, fighting demons is what my group and I do, so if you come in with us, I ask that you stand back and allow me to handle things," Buffy said

Booth took a deep breath before saying, "Deal, but I expect you to get answers."

"If there are answers here, I'll get it, Agent Booth," Buffy said. Booth just gestured for Buffy to walk.

The restaurant's moderate size dining room was packed with no empty seats. When Buffy's group stepped in, the hostess who was in her late teens stepped up to them while saying, "Welcome. As you can see we are extremely busy tonight so there will be a wait before I can seat everyone. Is everyone together?"

"We're not here to eat," Buffy said. "Okay, Will; Val. You're up."

"Will I up what?" the hostess asked while giving Buffy a confused stare. Willow and Valerie walked passed the hostess. "Wait. Ladies, you must wait for a table." Willow and Valerie ignored the hostess and began to chant their debugging spell. "Speak English. I can understand you."

Immediately, Willow and Valerie drew spectators from the customers. The two owners of the restaurant, who were half demons and a married middle-aged couple, came rushing out of the kitchen. The man looked over at Buffy while demanding, "Stop this, Slayer; at once!"

"You're in no position to be demanding anything," Buffy told him.

"What do you want?" the woman angrily demanded to know.

"I want information without Lowkey listening in," Buffy said.

The man stepped up to Buffy before hissing, "You will regret this if you don't stop."

"Not the first time I've heard that," Buffy said.

The man just glanced one by one into the eyes of Buffy's group and made an annoyed grunt when he realized that he couldn't do anything to stop what Willow and Valerie were doing. After the five minutes that it took to do the spell, a third of the customers and all the staff members felt the side effects of being debugged.

Valerie glanced around the room in the manner as if she was looking for something when Willow said, "It's done."

Buffy saw Valerie looking towards the kitchen in an inquisitive manner before settling her eyes on the owners of the restaurant. Buffy stepped closer to Valerie before asking, "Are you okay, Val?"

Valerie stepped up to Buffy and whispered, "The owners and kitchen staff are half demons with telepath ability. They are talking to each other about what just happened."

Buffy grinned before whispering, "Can you hear and understand what they're saying?"

"I can and they're scared that we slayers will discover their secret about them being half demons," Valerie said.

"Can they read your thoughts?" Buffy asked.

Valerie made a conscious thought towards the male owner for a moment, but the owner didn't react physically or mentally. Buffy noticed what Valerie was doing and before she could say anything, Valerie said, "I don't believe so."

"Did you just try to communicate with one of them?" Buffy questioned.

"Yeah," Valerie said. "I figure that was the only way to know for sure."

"Okay, next time don't do that," Buffy said. "You could've given away our advantage."

"Sorry," Valerie said.

"It's okay. Now I want you to listen closely to their thoughts, but don't do anything to tip them off that you can hear them." Valerie just nodded. Buffy noticed that inquisitive eyes from the customers were on her and her group. She stepped up to the owners again and told them, "Let's go in the kitchen so we can talk."

"You want to talk, we'll talk here," the female owner said. "What you want?"

"Fine; where's Lowkey?" Buffy asked.

"You wasted your time," the female owner said. "No one knows where Lowkey is at, so bye-bye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Buffy slightly grinned before saying, "I heard someone known as the wizard does. Where is the Wizard?"

"Perhaps you should try following the yellow brick road," the female owner said.

Faith lightly hit the side of her own upper leg while trying to keep her frustration under control.

Valerie heard a random thought of one of the kitchen workers questioning, "Charles Ford's brother knows Lowkey?" Valerie attempted a telepathic link with Willow and grinned slightly when she was able to do it. She then filled Willow in on Charles Ford.

Buffy answered the owner's statement by saying barely above a whisper, "Cute. Anymore cute remarks and I'll forget that you and your family are demons that have completely integrated in the human's society."

"They're demons?" Dr. Brennan questioned barely loud enough for Buffy to hear. Buffy glanced over at Dr. Brennan. "How can you tell?"

"I have my ways," Buffy then faced the owners and asked again in a more serious tone, "Where is the Wizard?"

"We honestly don't know," the male owner said.

"Look, we are only half demons; a peaceful clan," the female owner added barely loud enough to where Buffy's group could hear. "The only thing we're guilty of is spreading Lowkey's ability of hearing and seeing throughout the city."

While the owners were answering Buffy, Willow was telepathically telling Buffy, "Ask about the Wizard's brother, Charles Ford."

"What about the Wizard's brother, Charles Ford?" Buffy repeat aloud. "Do you know where he is?"

Before one of the owners could answer, Booth questioned, "Charles Ford? Are you asking about the guy who was recently sentenced to four consecutive lives in prison for murdering his wife and daughter through a ritual sacrifice?"

Valerie again heard the kitchen worker thinking, "That idiot Charles can't do anything right except for screwing up his life and ending up in prison."

Valerie quickly telepathically told Willow what she heard. Willow relayed the message to Buffy.

Booth noticed the slight hesitation in Buffy response before she said, "I believe I am. So he's in prison. Can he accept visitors?"

"Sure, but he doesn't have a brother," Booth said.

Valerie and Willow again relayed a message to Buffy about what thoughts Valerie had heard.

"He did have a bother, Agent Booth," Buffy said. "The two had the same father, but different mothers. In fact, the father was married to both mothers at the same time and the brothers didn't know about each other until just before Charles went to prison."

"You seem to have all the answers, Slayer, so why are you here?" the female owner questioned.

"I know you and your family are telepathic," Buffy said. "I know this because a member of my group is empathic. She has been reading yours and your staff members' thoughts and then relaying them to me. And those thoughts have been so helpful."

"Which one of you is empathic?" the male owner demanded to know.

Buffy shrugged before saying, "I can't say… well actually I can say, but I won't. Now since you can't lead me to Lowkey or the Wizard directly, I'll take my questions to the Wizard's brother." She turned towards her group. "We're done here."

As everyone was leaving the restaurant, Booth said, "You didn't ask too many questions in there. Are you sure you got all the information that you could have?"

"Other than getting the lead I got, they don't know anything," Buffy said.

"How can you be so sure?" Booth said.

"Because I was telling the truth about someone from my group being able to hear their thoughts," Buffy said. "Charles Ford was all the information they knew. Speaking of him, how late is visiting hours at the prison?"

"It will be too late to go see him tonight," Booth said as everyone stopped walking near the cars. "And you're telling me that psychics are real and someone here can hear thoughts?"

"Yes; psychics are real, Agent Booth," Buffy said "Valerie is empathic. She feels people's emotions."

"But on rare occasions I can hear people's thoughts," Valerie added. "And apparently I can hear the thoughts of telepathic demons."

"Hearing the thoughts of telepathic people and demons might be why you can hear my thoughts so well," Willow said. Booth gave Willow an inquisitive look. "One of the first things I learn as a witch was telepathically talking to people when I want. Valerie, on the other hand, can hear my thoughts even when I don't want."

"That's interesting," Booth said.

Valerie overlapped Booth's words with, "I'm getting better at blocking you out."

"Anyway, Agent Booth, what prison is Charles Ford in?" Buffy asked.

"I want to be with you when you speak with him, so I'll pick you up in the morning and you and I can go there together," Booth said.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then," Buffy said.

Booth nodded while saying, "Bye."

"Bye," everyone said before they went their respective ways.

Once Buffy's group returned to TEC headquarters, Faith called the airport to find out when was the next flight to L.A. which wasn't until 11:00 A.M. Monday morning.

Giles had already talked with Alexis, but Buffy had gotten with her and talked with her some more so she could get to know her.

By 8:00 P.M. Faith had left the TEC headquarters alone to patrol. Kennedy had taken Nichole, Cat and Valerie out on the opposite side of town for a little training. Amber had remained behind to rest and heal.

Kennedy and her group got back around midnight, but Faith had stayed out until three in the morning.

6: 00 A.M, Giles had left the TEC headquarter and went to the airport to pick up the first three potential-slayers who were arriving from London. He returned to the TEC headquarters with the potentials an hour later. Not really knowing what to do with them, Giles led them to the gym and had them working out as he went to go find Buffy.

Buffy and her group were in the cafeteria and sitting around the table talking with empty and partial empty food trays in front of them. Most of them were done eating breakfast, but a few were still picking at their food. Dawn had Hunter sitting in her lap as he ate. Faith was taking a seat with them with her food and just before she had a chance to eat, Cat asked Faith, "So how did your patrolling go?"

"I found a nest of eight vamps and I took it out," Faith answered before taking a bite.

"You took out a nest alone?" Cat asked as she glanced at Buffy as if to ask, 'why is she allowed to do it?'

Buffy saw the look she had gotten. While Faith was attempting to swallow her bite in order to answer, Buffy said defensively, "Faith has always been the lone slayer when it comes to fighting demons and patrolling. I'm not sure why, but when she's alone she is at her best and she's definitely able to handle herself. You on the other hand have no business going after a nest without an experienced slayer with you."

Faith had finally swallowed the bite she took and said, "I'm not sure what I walked into, but if all you charmed slayers listen to B, you'll stay five by five." The charmed slayers just gave Faith a curious look.

Cat was about to ask, but before she could Nichole saw Giles walking towards the table and said, "Giles is back."

Everyone turned to look. Once Giles had stepped up and pulled out a seat to sit down, Buffy asked, "So where are the potentials?"

Giles was sitting down while saying, "I have them working out at the gym. Wendy wants to become a charm slayer."

Cat gave Giles a confused look while saying, "I am a charmed slayer."

Giles grinned before saying, "One of the potentials is named Wendy Dearborn and since you prefer to go by Cat, I will keep referring to you as Cat and her as Wendy" Cat just gave him the thumb's up sign.

"Wendy is eighteen, right?" Buffy questioned.

"She will be nineteen tomorrow actually," Giles said.

"Cool, we could have a birthday party for her," Dawn said.

"Birf-day!" Hunter uttered out.

"It's birthday, sweetie, but it's not yours," Dawn said.

"As long as he gets cake and ice cream, he won't care whose birthday it is," Xander said.

"Ice cream! Ice cream!" Hunter uttered out as Blake Carlson was walking into the cafeteria with Buffy's journals.

Dawn gave Xander a smirk while sarcastically saying, "Thanks for mentioning ice cream, Xander."

Xander timidly grin while saying, "Sorry."

"Getting back to Wendy, I'll talk to her about her request," Buffy said as she looked at her watch. "And it will have to be when I get back from visiting Charles Ford."

Blake stepped up to the table and when Giles saw what he had, he said, "Those are our missing journals."

"Yes, well, after Willow done that… her witchcraft and I was told what I was afterwards, I went home; searched my house and found these," Blake said while setting the journals on the table. "I have no memory of taking them."

"Someone being control by a demonic entity isn't anything new to us and it is common for the effected person not to remember anything afterwards," Giles said.

"In any case, I would like to apologize for my part in this," Blake said.

"Apology accepted," Buffy said.

"Jack is walking over here," Nichole said.

Everyone looked. As Jack walked up, he said, "Buffy, Agent Booth is in the reception area and is asking for you."

"Thanks," Buffy said as she was standing up.

Valerie also stood up before Willow asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you and Val?"

"Val has proven that she can do the debugging spell, so she with her empathic ability should be all I need," Buffy said.

Willow nodded with a grin before saying, "Good luck."

"Thanks," Buffy said before she and Valerie walked towards the exit.

Later, at the prison, Charles Ford was handcuffed to a table in the interrogation room and then left alone. Two minutes later, Buffy, Booth and Valerie stepped in.

Valerie felt the change in personality in Charles just before he said, "Buffy, Valerie and Booth. Whatever you want with Charles Ford, you're not getting it."

"Lowkey, I presume," Buffy said.

"Charles is Lowkey?" Agent Booth questioned.

Buffy gave Booth a curious look before saying with a drawn out, "No." She then said normally, "Lowkey is speaking through Charles, but that's going to change in about five minutes or so."

"Back off now slayer and I'll forget that your two witches had shattered a few of my looking-glasses," Lowkey said.

"A tempting offer, but no," Buffy said. "Val, get rid of Lowkey so I can talk to Charles without him listening in."

"If you don't back off, I'll make it where you were never born," Lowkey warned.

Booth had a confound expression on his face as Buffy ordered, "Get rid of Lowkey now, Val."

Once Valerie began her chant, Lowkey said, "I'm warning you, Slayer."

"Or what?" Buffy questioned. "You'll warn me some more. I'm not really intimidated here."

"It would be a shame if one of your ancestors would get captured or killed, thus ending your life before you were even born," Lowkey said.

"What?" Booth muttered in confusion.

"You won't get the chance to threaten any of my ancestors," Buffy said.

"That's were you're wrong, Slayer," Lowkey said. "Julius' time machine won't be down for much longer and I know just where to start."

"I'll stop you," Buffy said.

"Whoa! Time out!" Booth uttered out. "Did he just say, 'time machine?'"

Buffy politely grinned before saying, "That's what Dr. Briers stole from the TEC agency. TEC actually stands for 'Time Enforcement Commission.' Dr. Briers and Lowkey have been using a time machine to send demons into the past."

"In a few hours another demon will be sent into the past, slayer, and soon after no one will have heard of Buffy Summers," Lowkey said.

"Again, I'm not intimidated," Buffy said.

"Can Lowkey do it?" Booth asked.

Buffy shrugged before saying, "He can try, but I have faith in my team and Capt. Matuzek's TimeCops,"

Lowkey had ended his control over Charles and Charles came to with a slight start. He glanced around and when he rested his eyes on Buffy, he said, "Lowkey is telling me what you three are doing. He really doesn't like you, Buffy."

"The feelings are mutual," Buffy said. "And once this spell is complete, we'll get started without Lowkey listening to us."

"I don't know what you want with me, but I'm not saying a word," Charles said just as Valerie got slightly distracted by Charles' emotions. Buffy barely caught the slight hesitation in Valerie's chant as she was completing the spell.

A minute later, Charles felt the side effects of being debugged. Once Valerie felt that he was no longer bugged, she said, "You can drop the act now, Charles. Lowkey can't hear you any more."

"Act?" Buffy and Booth uttered.

"I felt him trying to quiet his thoughts and suppress his eagerness when you mention that Lowkey won't be listening," Valerie said.

"Ever since I met Wilson I had that demon inside my head telling me what to do," Charles said. "Agent Booth, this is the god honest truth; I didn't kill my wife and daughter. Lowkey and Wilson did."

"Who is Wilson?" Booth asked.

"My dad was married to my mom and another woman at the same time," Charles began. "Wilson was my dad's son from that second marriage."

"Does Wilson call himself the wizard?" Buffy asked.

Charles slightly grinned before saying, "He concocted that name by taking the first two letters from his first and middle name and the last two letters from his last name."

"What is his full name?" Booth asked.

"It's Wilson Zachary Ford," Charles said.

"Where can we find him?" Buffy asked.

"I honestly don't know where he lives, but if this helps, he told me that he was marrying six Venuses," Charles said.

"He was marrying six what?" Booth asked.

"I think he meant Fenuses," Buffy said as she drew off her memories from the other reality.

"Well, what are Fenuses?" Booth questioned.

"They're female Rodilik demons," Buffy said. "Forming harems are common with that type of demon; however, it is dangerous for a male human to have an intimate relationship with one Fenuse." Buffy turned towards Charles. "And he's with six of them?"

Booth gave Buffy a curious look as Charles said, "I don't know how he was planning to do it, but Wilson told me that he was becoming a male Rodilik."

"Did Wilson tell you that before or after your wife and daughter were killed?" Buffy asked.

"Before," Charles said.

"That's what I thought," Buffy said.

"What?" Booth asked.

"Wilson sacrificed Charles' wife and daughter in order for him to transmigrate into a Rodilik demon," Buffy said.

"Why would anyone do that?" Booth asked.

"People transmigrate into demons for many reasons," Buffy began. "Power is the most common reason. In Wilson's case I would say to be with the Fenuses."

"When I think of demons, I think of ugly and scary monster-looking creatures," Booth said. "So why would anyone want to be with demons."

"Not all demons are ugly or scary monster-looking creatures, Agent Booth," Buffy said. "In fact, Rodilik demons could pass for human if they take the time and dye their skin." Buffy saw the inquisitive look on Booth's face. "They have a human type physique; except that their skin color is turquoise and they are bald."

"Then how is it dangerous for a man to have an intimate relationship with a Feuse?" Booth asked.

"Okay, I should say that Rodiliks have an outer physique of humans," Buffy began. She then whispered in Booth's ear to why it was dangerous for a human male to be with a Fenuse.

"Ooh, that is dangerous," Booth said

"Anyway, Charles, do Wilson and his harem live in this dimension?" Buffy asked.

"What do you mean, this dimensions?" Charles asked.

"Rodiliks are originally from the Castryis dimension," Buffy said. "Did Wilson go there to live?" Charles gave Buffy a look as if she had lost her mind while shrugging. "I'll have Willow to do a locator spell to look for any Rodilik demons in the area. Anyway, can you tell me anything else that could be helpful?"

"This may not be important, but the last time I saw Wilson, he had a strange looking bird perched on his shoulder," Charles said.

"Describe the bird," Buffy said.

"It was the size of a parrot. It was featherless and it kind of reminded me of a picture of a dodo bird that I saw," Charles said.

"And I was scared of that?" Buffy said.

"What?" Booth asked.

"The bird he saw was a pankandor bird," Buffy said. "That type of bird is also from the Castryis dimension. Only hatchlings are featherless and a pankandor hatchling will adopt the first person or creature it sees as its parent. A pankandor grows extremely large and fast and becomes a very viscous carnivore. Rodiliks and the person or creature it claims as its parent are the only creatures it won't attack or eat. Rodiliks will actually use them for protection."

"So what does this all mean?" Booth asked.

"To get to Lowkey we have to talk to the wizard… I mean Wilson; however, to get to Wilson we'll have to kill his pankandor and killing his pankandor is easier said than done," Buffy said. "Although I've found the best way to kill one is to feed it raw Tango fish which is from the norrakulis dimension." She then got out her cell phone and dialed it. "Hey, Giles, it's me. Is Faith still around?"

"Dean dropped her off at the airport a little bit ago," Giles said.

"See if you can get her back for me," Buffy said. "I have a mission for her and Kennedy. I'll explain the details of that mission when I get back."

"Will do," Giles said.

As Buffy was hanging up, Booth said, "I'm guessing that Tango fish is poisonous and that you are going to go after that poisonous fish from the… from that other dimension."

"A tango fish is actually only poisonous if not thoroughly cook," Buffy said. "Under cook tango makes a nice hallucinative. Of course you run a risk of poisoning yourself if you try it as a hallucinative. And yes. I'm planning to send a group into the norrakulis dimension to go fishing."

"And there's time for that?" Booth asked.

"For every ten days you spend in the norrakulis dimension, one hour passes in our dimension, so there's plenty of time to go fishing," Buffy said. "Anyway, Charles thanks for your help."

"You can think me by getting me an acquittal," Charles said.

"Unfortunately we can't do that," Booth said. "If I came forward with the new evidence of you being innocent I would be thrown into a rubber room."

"So I'm stuck in prison even though I'm innocent?" Charles questioned.

"You could have brought up the fact that demons killed your wife and daughter," Valerie chimed in to illustrate a point.

"I brought it up to my lawyer, but he thought I was making it up in a stupid attempt for an insanity plea," Charles said. "But you three know about demons."

"But the people who can free you or put us in the mental hospital don't; nor would they be incline to believe us," Booth said.

"There has to be something you can do to help me," Charles pleaded.

"I'm not promising anything, but I know someone who knows former lawyers of a law firm called Wolfram & Hart," Buffy finally said.

"Former lawyers?" Charles questioned. "Was that a nice way to say that they were fired?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "The senior partners of Wolfram & Hart were demons and they were forced out of this dimension." Booth, Valerie and Charles gave Buffy a curious look. "So no, the lawyers weren't fired. Their firm was forced out of business. Some of the lawyers are now working for a normal law firm and my friend might be able to persuade one of them to take your case."

"If that's the best you can do then I'll take it," Charles said.

"Okay, again, thanks for your help," Buffy said. "Bye."

As Buffy, Booth and Valerie were leaving the interrogation room, Booth said, "I knew Wolfram & Hart Law Firm was shady. I just didn't know how."

Buffy gave him a grin before saying, "And now you do."

"And now I do," Booth repeated.

20


	37. Chapter 37

Skye, a sixteen-year-old potential-slayer who arrived with Wendy, had brought board games with her from London. She, Alexis, Wendy and the third potential-slayer Eleanor were playing one of those games in the TEC cafeteria. Eleanor was younger than Skye by twenty days. Wendy was watching Hunter for Dawn and she had Hunter occupied next to her with crayons and a coloring book as she played the game. Dawn was at her assigned desk while being taught her new job.

In a conference room, Willow, Giles, Xander, Faith, Kennedy, Dean, Sam, Amber, Nichole and Cat were taking a seat around the table.

After getting comfortable, Faith looked at the clock in the room and saw that it was eleven. As she stared at the clock, she said, "Well, there goes my flight."

"I'm sure it was important or Buffy wouldn't have had me retrieve you," Giles said.

"How far away was Buffy when she called last?" Sam asked.

"She was only a few minutes away, so she should be here anytime," Giles said.

Kennedy started a general conversation. They talked for only a few minutes before Buffy and Valerie stepped into the room.

When Faith saw who were stepping in, she asked, "So what's the sitch, B?"

As Buffy and Valerie were taking the first two available seats, Buffy filled everyone in on what she had learned from Charles.

In Capt. Matuzek's office, Booth was being fully briefed about the time-machine by Capt. Matuzek and the director of the FBI. The meeting was short and in the end, Booth had to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

In the conference room, when Willow learned that Buffy wanted her to open a portal to the norrakulis dimension Valerie sensed a strong apprehensive emotion from Willow just as a worried expression grew across her face.

"Is the norrakulis dimension a hell dimension?" Valerie asked.

"Just the opposite actually," Buffy said. "In fact, our dimension is considered a hell dimension to the humans from the norrakulis dimension."

"Willow, why are you skittish about opening a portal to the norrakulis dimension?" Valerie asked.

"Certain dimensions are hard to open a portal to without tapping into the dark magic and norrakulis dimension is one of them," Willow said.

"If the norrakulis is some kind of a paradise dimension then why does it take dark magic to open a portal?" Dean asked.

"Because it's a protected dimension," Buffy said.

"The times I opened up a portal to that dimension in the other reality, I had two other witches helping me so I wouldn't be taken over by the dark magic," Willow said.

"Then show me what to do and I'll help," Valerie said.

"Val, your eagerness to learn witchcraft is great, but it also worries me at the same time," Willow said.

"Why is that worrying you?" Valerie asked.

"Because I was just like you before I went evil Willow and attempted to destroy the world," Willow said.

Valerie slightly grinned before saying, "It bothers me to see people littering and knowing that chemicals are being dumped into our waters. I don't believe in cutting down a tree without planting another one to replace it. I will fish or hunt for food, but never for sport."

"Val, you'd make a perfect poster girl or spoke person for Earth Day, but what does that have to do with you learning magic?" Willow asked.

"Because I respect the magic," Valerie said. "Magic is more than hocus-pocus to me. For me it's part of a religion, so I won't do magic without a purpose behind it."

"You float pencils for a half an hour before you go to bed," Nichole said. "So what's the purpose of that?"

"To learn how and to sharpen my focus," Valerie said.

"I told her to do it, so that's not her doing magic just to be doing it," Willow said. "But, Val, you had told me a short list of spells that you did in the past."

"Which I had a purpose behind each one," Val said. "The locator spell was to learn how to do it and I only did it once. The ghost-summoning spell was to find out how Tommy had died, but as I said before I think it didn't work. The memory spell was an attempt to end a bully's reign of terror, which I know I did wrong with that one when I saw the results; however, my intentions were good and I did immediately corrected it and reversed the spell." Buffy gave Valerie a curious look. "And the spell I cast on myself…"

"Val," Willow quickly said to stop Valerie from going on. "You made your point."

"So can I help with the portal??" Valerie asked.

"Val, you're human, which make you susceptible of being taken over by the dark magic…" Willow was able to get out.

"Of course I can; I'm totally susceptible?" Valerie retorted. Willow gave her a confused look. "That's why I think of and respect the magic as a religion."

"Hopefully I won't regret this, but you can help to open the portal," Willow said.

Valerie grinned before saying, "You won't."

"Buffy, I'm good at fishing," Cat commented.

Buffy grinned before saying, "If Faith and Kennedy have no problem with you going with them then you have my blessing."

"Just obey the native law," Kennedy added. "I don't want to break you out of prison."

"How will you three get back?" Sam asked.

"I know a priest who will open a portal for us," Kennedy said. "Of course in this reality we had never met, but the natives don't like visitors from other dimensions, so that's incentive enough for the priest to open a portal for us."

"B, the mission to the norrakulis dimension doesn't sound all that dangerous," Faith began. "So why do you need me?"

"Going to norrakulis dimension won't be the peaceful mission as you might think if someone witnesses your arrival and alert his or her local law enforcers," Buffy said.

"I wouldn't think that a paradise dimension would need law enforcement," Sam said.

"Norrakulis dimension isn't exactly a paradise dimension, but it is a more peaceful dimension than ours," Buffy said. "In fact, they send their repeating offenders to our dimension for punishment. Any other questions or concerns?" No one answered. "Okay, Willow, you and Valerie, need to get started with that portal."

Willow was standing up while saying, "Okay, Val, let's go."

Valerie stood up followed by the others. Everyone then left the room.

Willow and Valerie went to the office and broke out the magic books with the spells on opening dimensional portals. Buffy went looking for Wendy and found her, the two other potentials, Alexis and Hunter in the cafeteria.

When Buffy stepped up to their table, Skye said, "I recognize you from the photos. You're Buffy."

Buffy grinned as she noticed that Hunter wanted her to pick him up. As she picked him up, she asked, "Are you Skye or Eleanor?"

"I'm Skye," she said as Buffy sat down and placed Hunter on her lap.

Buffy pointed to the other sixteen-year-old and said, "That makes you Eleanor."

"Yes, Ma'am," Eleanor said.

"It's okay for you and Skye to call me Buffy," she said. "In fact I prefer it."

"Had Giles spoken with you about my request?" Wendy asked.

"He told me that you want to become a charm slayer," Buffy said. Wendy just grinned and nodded. "As a rule I don't give that choice until you reach your twentieth birthday."

"I was hoping that you would make an exception," Willow said.

"Why is it important that you become a slayer?" Buffy asked.

"Before the age of fifteen I was shuffled from foster home to foster home for eight years," Wendy began. "I was stealing, fighting and I was extremely angry at the world. In general I was on the road for a long prison term. Then four months after my fifteenth birthday, Bethany approached me and told me that I was a potential and that she wanted me to come with her to the Watcher's Council. Of course I thought she had completely lost her marbles." Buffy grinned. "I wasn't going to pass up a place to live and three meals a day though, so I went along with her. My first day there I actually had gotten into a fistfight with Carrie; it was Carrie's first day too and she was as angry as I was. Giles had immediately broken it up, but instead of scolding us or telling us that fighting wasn't allowed, he told us that if we want to fight that we are to take it to the ring and put on gloves. Before that day I was always told by someone that fighting was wrong, so I was shocked that Giles was allowing us to fight. Carrie too was shocked, but we weren't shocked enough not to put on the gloves and go to blows. The fight was organized and we had to obey the boxing rules. We fought for seventeen rounds. We would've gone longer, but both Carrie and I were too tired to continue…"

"Wendy, can you get to the point?" Skye questioned.

"Skye," Buffy said while shaking her head toward her for her not to interrupt. She then turned back towards Wendy. "Please continue."

"Anyway, after the fight I was exhausted. I lay down on the nearest available bed and had immediately fallen asleep. Someone woke me up for supper about four hours later, so I got up and join the supper crowd. Giles had placed Carrie and me at the same table; in fact, he had assigned us the same room. We both grumbled, but we went with it. Anyway, to get to the point…"

"Finally," Skye muttered.

Buffy gave Skye a warning look as Wendy continued to say, "The past three and a half years had drastically changed my life. I don't steal anymore. I look for peaceful ways to solve problems rather than immediately going to fisticuffs. I'm no longer angry at the world and Carrie and I are best friends. I'm a better person and I owe that to the Watcher's Council. The key word here is 'owe.' I want to be a charmed-slayer because I want to devote my life in fighting demons…" She glanced over at Alexis. "I mean threatening demons." Alexis grinned.

"You don't have to be a charmed slayer to do that," Buffy said.

"True, but I don't want to be on the sidelines watching as a watcher," Wendy said. "I want to be part of it as a slayer."

"The Powers That Be can still choose you," Buffy said.

"The Powers That Be chooses the youngest potential above the age of fifteen and let's face it, there are plenty of potentials younger than me above the age of fifteen, so there's no way that I'm going to be called."

"The Powers That Be choosing the youngest potential above the age of fifteen is only a guess," Buffy said. "No one knows for sure and you have one more year to go before you are off the Powers That Be's radar."

"You and Tabitha were called on at fifteen," Wendy said. "Kendra, Faith and Jamie were called at sixteen. The slayers before you were also between the ages of fifteen and eighteen when they were chosen. The only recorded slayer who was called upon at the age of nineteen was right after the Black Plague had swept through Europe. She died within a year and then another fifteen-year-old was chosen."

Buffy grinned before saying, "At least you know the history of the slayers."

"Buffy, there are at least sixty potentials that will be chosen before me," Wendy said.

"Most likely you're right, but as long as you are on the Powers That Be's radar, I prefer to wait and see if you will become a Chosen One through them," Buffy said.

"You had charmed more than twenty potentials while being on the Powers That Be's radar ten years ago," Wendy said.

"True, but that was done to fight off the First Evil's army," Buffy said.

"Couldn't you make one… possibly two more exceptions?" Wendy pleaded.

Buffy gave Wendy a curious look before asking, "Two exceptions?"

"Carrie also wants to be a charmed slayer," Wendy said.

"Of course she does," Buffy said.

"Buffy, please," Wendy continued to plea.

Buffy stared into Wendy's entreating eyes and hesitated to say, "Regardless if you and Carrie become charmed slayers or not, both of your assignments will be the same."

"What assignments?" Wendy questioned.

"Everyone coming here won't be a short time stay," Buffy began. "Giles and I are opening up a branch here in D.C. You and Carrie are the two oldest potentials at the age of nineteen… well, tomorrow you'll be nineteen. Anyway, there won't be any official watchers… not right away anyway, so I'll need you and Carrie to fill that void."

"So Carrie and I will be teaching rather than training?" Wendy asked.

"Both of you will still need to continue your training, so you might want to consider yourself as a drill sergeant," Buffy said. "You and Carrie will each get to command half the troops along with exercising alongside them."

"I can handle that assignment," Wendy said. "Of course I could handle it easier if I was a charm slayer."

Buffy grinned before saying, "I don't like charming any potential underneath the age of twenty, but I can see that your mind is made up on becoming a charmed slayer. When Carrie arrives I will have Willow activate both of yours slayer ability."

Wendy smiled before saying, "Thank you."

"Well, becoming a charm-slayer comes with the responsibilities of patrolling at night and fighting extremely dangerous demons," Buffy said. "So I don't know how much of a favor I'm doing you."

"This is what I want, Buffy," Wendy said. "I want to patrol and fight demons. I want to help to make a difference."

"Then you're welcome," Buffy said before standing up with Hunter. She kissed him on the cheek before putting him down. "I got things to do, so everyone can carry on with your game."

"Bye," the four said.

"Me go," Hunter said while wanting to be picked up again.

"You are to stay here with Wendy," Buffy said. She then pointed to the coloring book. "Stay and color me a pretty picture."

"'Kay," Hunter said. When Hunter began coloring again, Buffy walked away.

In the office, Willow and Valerie were collecting the spell ingredients to open two portals; one to the norrakulis dimension and the other to the Castryis dimension.

When Buffy walked into the office, she asked, "How's it going?"

"We got the ingredients together for both portals," Valerie said.

"Both portals?" Buffy questioned.

"You want me to do a locator spell to find any Rodiliks in the area, but before I can do that, I'll need something… perhaps blood from a Rodilik demon to do it," Willow said.

"All right," Buffy said. "While Faith, Kennedy and Cat go to the norrakulis dimension, the rest of us will be going to the Castryis dimension and barter with the Rodiliks."

"So you will barter with the Rodiliks and not invade them?" Valerie asked.

Buffy gave Valerie a confused look while saying, "We're not invading any one."

"I'd told her that, but she thought that I might have had cast a spell on myself that would prevent her from sensing the truth," Willow said.

"I just walked in and I feel that you two are on page ten," Buffy said. "Can we go back to page one?"

"You need blood belonging to a Rodilik before you can do a locator spell," Valerie began. "But I think it is wrong to go to the Rodilik's dimension and kill one for its blood just so you can find a Rodilik in this dimension."

Buffy grinned before saying, "Relax, Val, we thinks it's wrong too. The Rodiliks are a starving race in their dimension and they'll trade anything for food."

"They will trade a pint of their blood for food?" Valerie asked.

"Well, a pint is a little bit more than what we need, but for the right kind of food they will trade all their blood," Buffy said.

"In the other reality we had bought a Tautaun for twenty milk chocolate candy bars," Willow said.

Valerie gave Willow a curious look while asking, "Where have I heard of a Tautaun before?"

"From the movie 'Star Wars'" Willow said. "Andrew, a sci-fi nerd who works for the Council had named it and it's a horse-like demony creature that strangely enough does favor George Lucas' Tautaun."

Valerie gave Willow the thumbs up just before Buffy asked, "So how soon until you can open the portal?"

"Well, we're ready to start; however, I'm thinking it will take more than thirty minutes to get the portal open for the norrakulis dimension though," Willow said.

"Let's go find the others," Buffy said before walking towards the door.

"The gym is the biggest opened area, so we should all gather there," Willow said as she followed Buffy and Valerie into the hallway.

"That might be where everyone is at anyway," Buffy said. "So you and Valerie go ahead and get started. I'll go to the cafeteria to get some food to barter with."

"Perhaps you should hit the snack machine for its candy bars," Valerie suggested.

Buffy gave Valerie a grin before saying, "You catch on fast." Valerie just grinned. "Oh and I'll get a needle pack from the infirmary too."

"Okay, we'll meet you in the gym," Willow said before they went their respective ways.

Buffy went through the lunch line and bought several apples, oranges, bananas and peaches. The snack machine was in the room and after paying for the fruits and placing them in a bag to be carried, she stepped up to the machine to purchase a few candy bars.

Alexis, the three potentials and Hunter were still in the cafeteria and when Hunter saw Buffy, he went to her. Wendy followed behind Hunter.

When Wendy saw how many candy bars Buffy was getting she said while she and Hunter stepped up, "Whoa, you have one hell of a sweet tooth."

Buffy glanced at Hunter first before telling Wendy, "It's not for me. It's to trade with the Rodilik demons."

"Me want a bite," Hunter uttered while seeing the candy.

Buffy handed one of the candy bars to Wendy while saying, "Ration this out to Hunter."

As Wendy took the candy, she said, "I never heard of those demons before."

"Hardly anyone has," Buffy said as she was putting more money in the snack machine. "They from the Castryis dimension."

"So you're going to the Castryis dimension?" Wendy asked with eagerness in her voice.

Buffy shook her head to Wendy while saying, "You're not going."

"Oh, I know that," Wendy said. "I've never seen a portal being opened before and I would like to."

Wendy saw that Buffy was pondering her thoughts. She then glanced over at Alexis and the other two potentials. She faced Wendy again before saying, "Take Hunter to Dawn and then you and them can go to the gym and watch."

Wendy smiled before saying, "Thanks, Buffy."

"I'm only letting you and the others watch because I think it might be a good learning experience," Buffy said as Wendy was picking up Hunter to be carried. "And all four of you are to stand back and keep quiet."

"Absolutely," Wendy said before turning towards the others and walking away. Buffy turned and walked towards the exit.

In the gym, Willow and Valerie dumped a powder like substance on the ground to form a twelve-foot circle. A quiet crowd of spectators made up of TEC personnel had immediately formed. The word began to spread throughout the building that Willow and Valerie were performing witchcraft in the gym.

Once Willow and Valerie were done creating the circle, they moved onto creating the symbols with the powder and then to the arrangement of the candles. By the time that Willow and Valerie began to recite the incantation, the spectators had tripled. Wendy, Skye, Eleanor and Alexis were among them.

Capt. Matuzek had charged in and gazed upon the activity for a brief moment. He then gazed around the room. When he saw Buffy, he stepped up to her while saying in an unpleasant tone, "I did not approve this."

"Captain, I'm sorry that I didn't discuss this with you first, but what Willow and Valerie are doing is an essential step in finding Lowkey and Dr. Briers," Buffy assured him.

Capt. Matuzek glanced at the activity again before asking, "And what exactly are they doing?"

Buffy took the time to explain the situation to Capt. Matuzek. After Capt. Matuzek heard Buffy out, Buffy could tell that he was still uncomfortable with the activity that was going on in front of them; however, he had apprehensively allowed it to continue.

Willow and Valerie had been chanting the spell for thirty minutes, before Willow hair and eyes blackened. Valerie felt the surge of evil shooting through Willow just before Willow abruptly drew energy from Valerie. Valerie stayed on her feet and was barely able to move. Valerie used her slayer's strength to forcibly reach out and grabbed Willow's hand. As Willow recited the portal spell solo in Latin with an eerie voice, Valerie concentrated on anchoring Willow to the side of good.

When veins began to show across Willow's face, Buffy went up to her group and said, "We have to stop this spell."

Valerie had felt Willow's humanity rapidly fading from the dark spell and for a last attempt to anchor Willow to the side of good, she chanted a protective spell that she made up herself when she was seventeen in order to protect herself from being consumed by evil; however, she never had the opportunity to use it until now.

Buffy and her group were about to put an end to the spell, but before they could, six pure white cloud-like orbs began to swirl above Willow's and Valerie's heads.

"What the hell," Xander uttered out.

"Is that part of the portal spell?" Faith asked Buffy.

"It's not," Buffy answered as she turned towards Faith. The six orbs began to change shapes to ghostly images of six Indian Warriors. "We need to put an end to this and quick."

"I don't think that will be necessary, B," Faith said as Faith stared at the sight.

Buffy turned towards the sight. The six ghosts stood in a circle around Willow and Valerie and chanted the spell along with Willow. Almost immediately the veins that were showing on Willow had faded and her hair had changed back to red. Her eyes stayed black and after a short time a portal to the norrakulis dimension opened up.

Willow staggered back exhausted. She caught glimpse of the six ghosts for the first time just before they turned into cloud-like orbs again and faded from sight. The TEC spectators were in an awe of the event.

"What the hell just happened?" Willow uttered in an exhausted breath.

"It worked," Valerie said as Buffy and her group stepped closer. "It worked differently than what I expected, but it worked."

"Val, what exactly did you do?" Buffy asked.

"When I was little, my grandfather's brother used to tuck me in at night with a prayer," Valerie began. "The prayer was about calling on the spirits of our ancestors for help and guidance when evil is upon us. Then a few years ago, I came across a protective spell in one of the magic books. The protective spell was very similar to my great uncle's prayer and I merged the two into the spell that I just did. I never had the opportunity to use it before so I didn't know what would happen or if it would even work."

Willow gave Valerie a grin before saying, "The spirits of your ancestors took the burden of the dark magic and prevented me from being consumed by it."

"So you're not mad at me for doing a spell without your permission?" Valerie asked.

"What you did had pulled be back from the brink of becoming evil again, so I'll over look it this time," Willow said.

"Okay, well, Faith, Kennedy, Cat, you three are up," Buffy said. "So get going before your portal closes."

"We'll be back before you know it," Faith said before she went through the portal.

After Kennedy and Cat followed behind Faith, Willow chanted a short incantation to close it.

"Willow, I hate to do this to you so soon, but we now need a portal to the Castryis dimension open," Buffy said.

"Opening that portal will be a snap," Willow said. "Val, we will have to start from scratch though, so help me clean up."

Valerie nodded before she and Willow went to work.

Capt. Matuzek stepped up to Buffy and asked, "So was that it for the show in center stage?"

"Well, we have one more portal to open up and that's it," Buffy said. "It won't be as dramatic as the last one nor will it take as long to open."

"Just don't destroy the gym," Capt. Matuzek said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "We won't."

Capt. Matuzek nodded with a grin before walking away. He stepped up to one of his timecops and said, "Once this show is over, get everyone back to work."

"Yes, sir," the timecop said.

Capt. Matuzek turned towards the exit and walked out.

It took Willow and Valerie twenty minutes to clean up and perform the spell. Once the portal to the Castryis dimension opened, Buffy, Willow, Valerie, Nichole, Amber, Dean and Sam stepped through. Buffy carried the food and the needle pack to draw blood. Willow and Valerie carried the magic supplies. The portal closed a few seconds later.

"Okay; show's over," the timecop said. "Everyone back to work."

As everyone was going their respective ways, Alexis and the three potential slayers remain in the gym; mainly to be there to watch everyone to return. To pass the time, Alexis and the potential slayers worked out with the weights.

An hour and twenty minutes later, Buffy and her group returned. Buffy was carrying a pint of blood from a Rodilik demon.

Alexis and the three potentials stepped up as the portal was closing. Buffy glanced over to them and asked, "Where are Faith, Kennedy and Cat?"

The three potentials gave Buffy a curious look as Alexis said. "They're not back yet."

"They should have gotten back before us," Willow said.

"How long have we been gone?" Buffy asked the four teenagers.

"Close to an hour and a half," Wendy said.

"We'll give them another half hour and then we have to go looking for them," Buffy said.

Alexis gestured towards the pint of blood while asking, "What's with that slime looking blue… goo?"

"It's blood from a Rodilik demon," Buffy said. "Willow, we'll go ahead and do the tracking spell."

"Can we watch?" Eleanor asked.

Buffy pondered her thoughts before saying, "Just stay back out of the way and keep quiet."

Eleanor grinned while saying, "We will."

Without saying another word, Buffy began walking followed by the others.

While walking through the hall, Buffy and the others came upon Jack. Jack stepped up to Buffy while saying, "Oh, Buffy, the stuff that were found at Dr. Briers' make-shift headquarters arrived today with the overnight packages. It was given to Xander."

"Okay, thanks," Buffy said. When Jack nodded, Buffy and her group continued down the hall.

"So we'll be doing two locator spells?" Sam asked.

"Looks that way," Willow said.

Buffy and her group went to the office. Giles and Xander were there already. During the passing twenty minutes, Willow did two locator spells while teaching Valerie at the same time. They searched for the Rodilik demons first and fifteen of them had showed up on the map just outside the Washington D.C. area to the north. The second locator spell was done while using one of six items from the package and the spell pointed to Charleston West Virginia.

"So, Dr. Briers is in Charleston," Giles said.

"Maybe," Buffy said. "Willow, redo the locator spell while using another item from the box."

"You got it," Willow said just before she began cleaning up the last spell.

As Willow was redoing the spell, the door opened and Faith, Kennedy and Cat stepped in. Cat was carrying twelve fish that were between eight and ten inches long.

When Buffy saw who were coming in, she asked, "Were there…"

"Shshsh," Willow hissed. She then continued the spell.

Buffy gestured for the new arrivals to go into the hallway with her. Once the four where in the hallway, Buffy asked, "Were there any problems in the norrakulis dimension?"

"You can say that," Cat said.

Buffy gave Cat an inquisitive look while Faith was saying, "The norrakulis dimension is not the paradise dimension that you think it is."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"You never fought or faced Vincentia in this reality, did you?" Kennedy questioned.

"Oh god, that witch attacked that dimension with her army of demons didn't she?" Buffy asked.

"Uh-huh," Kennedy said. "She became queen in that dimension about three years ago."

"Three years ago in the other reality was about the time we slayers killed her and destroyed her army," Buffy said.

"It took us a couple of weeks, but we killed the wicked witch of the west," Faith said.

"So Vincentia is dead?" Buffy asked.

"She is," Faith said.

"We teamed up with resistant fighters and helped to end her reign of terror," Cat added before holding up the fish. "The high priestess then helped us to catch these fish before opening a portal for us."

"Well, I'm happy to see that everyone returned in one piece," Buffy said before gesturing towards the door. "Let's go back in there."

When the four stepped back in, Willow said, "You're right, Buff, for me to redo the spell. The second results points to Baltimore Maryland. I'm preparing to do it another time."

When Buffy nodded Skye asked while gesturing towards the fish, "Is that dinner?"

"It's dinner for a pankandor bird," Valerie said. "My question is since Rodilik demons are the only creature that can get close enough to feed the bird without being eaten, who's going to feed it?"

"Why are you feeding a bird fishes," Eleanor asked.

"It only fishes when there is more than one type of fish," Willow corrected. "So those would be fish even though Cat is holding several of them."

"Okay, but why are you feeding them to a bird?" Eleanor asked.

"Those fish are very poisonous when uncooked," Buffy said. "A full grown pankandor bird is a very large carnivore bird. So we're doing it to kill the bird so we can get in without one of us being eaten."

"I'll do it," Alexis said.

"What?" Buffy quickly asked.

"I'll feed the bird," Alexis said.

"You're going to walk up to a very large carnivore bird and feed it poisonous fish?" Skye questioned.

Alexis bitterly stared at the left over blood while saying, "Since Rodilik demons are the only creatures or demons that can approach a pankandor then I'll become one."

"Thanks for the offer, Alexis, but absolutely not," Buffy said.

"Buffy, I can shape-shift into a Rodilik by…" Alexis was only able to get out.

"By drinking the blood that we have left," Buffy finished what Alexis was saying. "I know, but what I don't know is if a pankandor can distinguish an echo demon masquerading as a Rodilik demon from an actual Rodilik demon. It's too much of a risk for you and there are other options available so we won't have to do anything that drastic."

"I want to help though," Alexis said.

Buffy grinned before saying, "I get that, but this isn't the time."

Alexis crossed her arms while grumbling, "Fine."

"I'm ready to start people, so shshsh," Willow firmly stated. Buffy just nodded to Willow.

Willow took the time to do a locator spell while using all six items and learned that the six locator spells pointed to Charleston and Baltimore equally.

"Baltimore is closes; we'll start there," Buffy said before gesturing towards the door. "I'll go talk to Capt. Matuzek about getting a plane or helicopter transportation there."

"B, there are enough troops here to send a group to Charleston and also to Baltimore," Faith said.

Buffy slightly glanced over her group before saying, "True, but getting separate transportation to both cities might be a problem, but I'll see if I can get them."

"Buff, will we be searching for the wizard tonight?" Xander asked.

"We will be," Buffy said. "Just after I talk with Capt. Matuzek about transportation to Baltimore and Charleston."

"I'll go prepare a van," Xander said.

"Cat, find something to put those fish in and go with Xander," Buffy said. When Cat nodded Buffy turned and walked out.

Skye looked at Alexis and the other two potential while asking, "Up for a game of monopoly?"

Wendy shrugged while saying, "Sure."

"Fine," Alexis grumbled.

"We have nothing better to do," Eleanor said.

"We do, but Buffy thinks different," Alexis grumbled. Valerie gave Alexis a curious stare as Alexis and the potentials walked out. Valerie then just shook it off.

**A/N Kendra and Faith becoming Chosen Slayers at the age of sixteen was only a guess. I couldn't find anything on what age they were when they were chosen. **


	38. Chapter 38

_**Dr. P.G. Thirteen's review**_

"_**Diagnosis: sadly, the biggest digression, yet. **_

Prescription: I shall have to forfeit reading the rest of this story. It's getting too far afield of the main plot." 

**The main plot is to find the stolen time-machine, dust Dr. Briers and kill Lowkey. And that is want I'm moving towards even with the sub-plots. **

**Cause and effect; chain of events: **

**[Wilson Ford (The wizard) knows how to find Lowkey. Charles Ford gave the clue on how to find Wilson. Booth was the one to know where Charles Ford was. Bones (Dr. ****Brennan) was the one who got Booth involved.**

**[Alexis contributes to the final outcome. (At least that's what my intention was. While writing, my stories tend to stray from my original thoughts; especially when I'm thinking chapters ahead, so Alexis' contribution to the outcome might be a little weaker than I was hoping for.) Alexis is only with Faith because of ****Jane Vasco (Pain Killer Jane) and her associates. Alexis's mother is in a coma because she went to Angel Investigation while looking for her daughter. Alexis was sent to the Watcher's Council because her mother was put in a coma.**

**This story has only a few chapters left (I'm not sure how many, but I'll be surprise if it will continue beyond two more chapters after this one before finishing) and the potential-slayers showing up in D.C is actually being done in the preparation for another story that I'm thinking about writing. Alexis will contribute to that story as well. **

* * *

In the cafeteria, Alexis and the three potential were preparing the game board as Alexis continued to gripe, "You know, according to Faith and the books that I read on echo demons, I would completely transform into a Rodilik demon. A pankandor couldn't tell me apart from a genuine Rodilik." 

"Alex, is this…" Wendy tiredly uttered.

"It's Alexis, never Alex," she interrupted with.

"Fine, Alexis," Wendy said. "Is this rant going to last much longer?"

"Well, I can help; I know I can," Alexis said.

"Then help," Eleanor said.

"What?" Alexis questioned.

"Go get the blood; grab a fish or two; go find the Rodilik demon and feed the fish to the bird," Eleanor said.

"And I'll bust you before you get out the door of this building," Wendy told Alexis.

"When did you become a goodie-two-shoes?" Eleanor asked.

"She's just trying to remain on Buffy's good side so she can become a charmed slayer," Skye said as Jack stepped in the room.

"Hey, Buffy will hold me responsible for your three actions and I'm not getting in trouble because of you three," Wendy said.

Jack stepped up to them while questioning, "Wendy?"

"That would be me," Wendy said.

"Dawn asked me to find you," Jack said. "I believe she wants you to watch Hunter for the next few hours until her shift is over."

Wendy stood up and glanced over at Alexis before saying, "I'll be right back."

"We'll be here," Skye said.

When Wendy and Jack walked away, Eleanor said, "Alexis, perhaps you can try asking Buffy again."

"Buffy isn't going to let me," Alexis said.

"The worse she can say is no," Eleanor said.

"Fine, but she's with Capt. Matuzek right now," Alexis said.

"She won't be talking with him long," Eleanor said. "So you should go back to the office and wait or you might miss her."

Alexis stood up while saying, "Fine."

Eleanor stood up while saying, "I'll wait with you."

"What about the game?" Skye asked.

"Set it up," Alexis said. "Most likely we'll be back soon." Skye just shook her head and rolled her eyes when the two walked away.

No one was in the office when Alexis and Eleanor stepped in. Eleanor saw the bag of blood and the map to Wilson's house lying on the desk. She picked up the two items and said while waving them, "Here are the blood and the map. We know where the fish are."

"I really don't want to get kicked out," Alexis said.

"Buffy won't kick you out," Eleanor said.

"How can you be so sure?" Alexis asked.

"There are twelve more potential-slayers coming and all of us are… well screw-ups for a lack of a better term," Eleanor said. Alexis gave Eleanor a confused look. "The only potentials who are sent to the Watcher's Council either have no place to live or have been less than a decent role model."

"Which one are you?" Alexis asked.

"The potentials who are just homeless are remaining in London," Eleanor said. "The only reason that we are being sent here is because our watchers are being sent on a mission and there are no other Watcher-slash-charmed-slayers to become our watchers. So you see, we are expected to screw up."

"Well, I'm a half demon; not a potential, so Buffy will most likely be less lenient with me if I screw up," Alexis said.

"Part of our studies is studying pass slayers," Eleanor began. "Buffy's missions are on the top of the curriculum and I'm here to say, that she was once a bit of a screw-up herself." Eleanor saw Buffy's journals sitting on the desk and gestured towards them. "If you don't believe me, then check for yourself. There are her journals written by Rupert Giles. Giles was her watcher when she was my age."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Alexis asked.

"As long as you're not evil, Buffy is merciful and forgiving," Eleanor said. "In fact even if you are evil, she's merciful and forgiving as long as she feels that your soul is redeemable. So as long as you're not too much of a screw-up, she's not going to kick you out. And you would be helping Buffy. That's what you want, isn't? To help Buffy. Or do you just want to gripe and groan?"

Alexis slightly sighed before saying, "Fine. Give me the blood and let's go find the fish."

Eleanor handed over the blood with a grin as she said, "Now you're talking." She and Alexis then left the office.

Fifteen minutes later Buffy and her group were gathering again in the office. Once Buffy had everyone's attention, she said, "Okay, Capt. Matuzek had approved two helicopters for us, but it will be a few minutes before they can get here. Meanwhile here are the groups. Faith, Valerie and Nichole will get on the first helicopter and it will be heading for Charleston. Kennedy, Dean and Sam will get on the second helicopter and of course that will be going to Baltimore. Willow, Xander, Cat, Amber and I will seek out the wizard. Giles will be here at command central. Any questions?" Before anyone could respond there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Wendy opened the door and stepped in while carrying Hunter. "Wendy, if this can wait, I prefer that it would."

"I'm looking for Alexis and Eleanor," Wendy said. "Skye said that they came here to talk to you, Buffy, and that was about fifteen minutes ago."

"I haven't seen them," Buffy said.

"By chance is the bag of Rodilik's blood still here?" Wendy questioned.

Everyone glanced at where the blood was before Willow said, "It's not here. The map's gone too."

"Son of a bitch!" Faith uttered. "Alexis is planning to feed that bird."

"Crap!" Buffy uttered. "Okay, everyone, stick to your assign mission. The ones who are with me, let's move." Buffy followed by her selected group move towards the door. "Alexis and Eleanor have a fifteen-minute-head start on us and we need to get to them before they do anything stupid."

Under a heavy overcast sky of brewing storm clouds, a cabdriver had turned onto the road where Wilson Ford and his harem lived on. Alexis and Eleanor were in the back seat. Alexis looked at the fare on the meter before she cuffed her hands over Eleanor's ear and whispered, "How much money do you have with you?"

"I have thirty pounds with me," Eleanor whispered back.

Alexis slightly hissed, "Pounds! This cabdriver isn't going to accept British money."

"Well, how much money do you have?" Eleanor asked.

"On me, I have zero money," Alexis hissed. "The only reason that I got into a cab with you is because you told me that you have money."

"Well, I do have money," Eleanor said. "It's not my fault that your bloody country doesn't take the British pound."

"Well, in a minute or two the cabdriver is going to expect to be paid with dollars," Alexis whispered. "So what the hell are we going to do?"

Eleanor thought briefly before saying, "Drink the blood."

"What?" Alexis questioned.

"We're almost there so the blood won't digest in your system too soon and the cabdriver won't care about his fare when he sees a demon," Eleanor explained.

"And what if he has a gun," Alexis questioned. "The cabdrivers I know in L.A. carry guns."

"Fine, don't drink the blood," Eleanor said. "I hope you like jail because that will be our next stop."

"I should've gone with my first instinct and not listen to you," Alexis grumbled while picking up the blood.

Eleanor grinned when Alexis held her nose and drank the blood. Almost immediately Alexis shape-shifted into a Fenuse after she had gulped down the first mouth full. Seconds later, Alexis was finishing off the blood when the cabdriver stopped in front of three houses on a circle drive and put the car in park

The cabdriver turned his head for his fare. When he saw Alexis it took a second or two for him to realize that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. A horrified expression came across his face as he let out a terrified yell. Without taking his eyes of Alexis, the cabdriver frantically fumbled to open his car door. Once he finally got the door opened he fell out of it. He quickly picked himself up and took off running up the street.

As Alexis and Eleanor stared at the cabdriver's backside, Eleanor commented, "At least you didn't get shot."

"Well, let's do this before he calms down and comes back with the cops," Alexis said.

Alexis had the see-through-bag that held the four fish that they took. As they were getting out of the cab, Eleanor asked, "Do you know which house the Rodiliks are in?"

Trees and bushes were moderately scattered throughout the area. Several of the trees were barely more than saplings. After looking in all direction, Alexis sarcastically said, "Oh, yeah, we were prepared to do this."

"I'm going to take that as a no," Eleanor said.

"Well, let's pick a house and knock on a door," Alexis said as a car was approaching.

"Wait," Eleanor said. "There's a car coming."

Alexis pointed to a thick string of bushes while saying, "Come on. Let's get out of sight."

The two dashed behind the bush and knelt down behind it. Eleanor bumped her knee on a good size rock next to the bush and uttered out with a quick, "Ow!"

"Shshsh," Alexis quickly said.

"I hurt my knee," Eleanor whispered.

"If we get caught, your knee will be the least of our worries," Alexis whispered.

Alexis and Eleanor remained quiet and watched as the car pulled into the driveway of one of the houses. A single man wearing a long dark-heavy coat got out of the car and stepped up to the cab. He stuck his head inside and when he pulled it back out, his face had changed into a demon face.

"This isn't good," Eleanor whispered after seeing his face. "He's a bloody vampire."

"How is he out in the day light hours?" Alexis asked.

"Indirect sunlight because of the heavy overcast," Eleanor said. "As long as it's cloudy like this vampires have free rein during the day time. Plus with the type of coat he has on, he can pull it up over his head to escape the direct sunlight if the sun should happen to come out, which I doubt that we'll see the sun today."

"Well, do you have a stake?" Alexis asked as the vampire sniffed the air around him.

"I'm a potential; not a slayer," Eleanor said as the vampire turned towards them.

"Was that a yes or a no?" Alexis asked.

"That would be a no," Eleanor said as the vampire moved closer.

"Well, stay here," Alexis said.

As Alexis stood up while leaving the bag of fish on the ground, Eleanor hissed, "Where are you going?"

"Shshsh," Alexis said before she stepped into the vampire's view.

As Alexis and the vampire stepped up to each other, the vampire said, "You're not one of the wizard's Fenuses or one of his children."

"I'm new to this dimension and I'm here searching for relatives," Alexis said.

"You speak good for being new to this dimension," the vampire said.

"I met humans before, human," Alexis said.

"Well, I'm not a human; not for the past ten years anyway," the vampire said.

"What are you if you're not human?" Alexis asked while pretending not to know.

"I'm a vampire," he said while rubbing his forehead. "You can tell by my face. Of course I can appear human." He then changed his face back to human.

"Oh, yes, now I can see the difference," Alexis said. "So, can you help me out, Vampire? Can you point me to my relatives?"

"The vampire pointed to one of the houses before saying, "Most likely, you are looking for the Rodiliks in that house."

"Thanks," Alexis said.

The vampire sniffed the air before saying, "You're not alone."

"I am," Alexis quickly said.

"No, I smell someone else's scent," the vampire said.

"You can do that?" Alexis asked.

"I can and I smell someone in that direction," the vampire said while pointing in the direction of Eleanor.

"When I first got here, I scared the two humans who were in that," Alexis said while pointing towards the cab. "One ran that direction on that path while another human ran in the direction of where you are smelling. Both humans are now very far from here though. Anyway…"

"No; the one I'm smelling is just on the other side of that bush," the vampire said before moving passed Alexis.

"I think you are mistaken," Alexis tried to convince the vampire as he continued to creep up towards the bush. "There are no humans around here."

"I can smell the fear," the vampire said. "I can't believe you can't smell it."

"Me either," Alexis said as the vampire was about to round the bush.

In a desperate attempt to stop the vampire, Alexis kicked as hard as she could at the bend of the vampire's leg. As the vampire was going down, she punched him as hard as she could at the back of the head.

The vampire fell facedown just inches away from Eleanor. He was slightly stunned by Alexis' attack. Eleanor had quickly picked up the rock that she bumped her knee on and before the vampire had a chance to recover from falling Eleanor had repeatedly beaten the vampire in the head until he was unconscious.

When the vampire lay there while looking dead, Eleanor got back on her feet while holding the bag of fish and said, "Nice plan. Now what's your plan on killing him?"

Alexis looked at Eleanor as if she had lost her mind, while slightly hissing, "The only plan I had was trying to keep him from sucking your blood and turning you into a vampire, so this was as far as I got."

"Well, you don't have to get snippy about it," Eleanor said.

"I wasn't being…" Alexis retorted before stopping in mid-sentence. She then took a second to calm herself. "If I sounded snippy, I'm sorry. I wasn't meaning to be."

"Okay," Eleanor said. "So any suggestions on how to kill him?"

Alexis glanced around. When she glanced towards the cab, she said, "I know what to do with him. Grab his feet and help me carry this guy."

Eleanor held up the bag of fish while saying, "I can't carry this and him."

"Well, let's flip the vampire over on his back," Alexis said. "Then we'll lay the bag on the vampire's stomach."

"I get it," Eleanor said. "We carry the vampire and the vampire carries the fish."

"So to speak," Alexis said as she bent down followed by Eleanor.

Once Alexis and Eleanor flipped over the vampire, Eleanor placed the bag on the vampire's stomach.

As Eleanor grabbed the vampire's feet she asked, "What are we going to do with him?"

"We are going to put him the trunk of the cab," Alexis said. "That should keep him out of our way for a while."

As Alexis and Eleanor were picking up the vampire, Alexis noticed the extra strength she had while being in the form of a Rodilik demon.

Eleanor noticed how easy Alexis was able to pick up the vampire. As they started to walk with him, Eleanor commented, "You look as if you can carry this vampire by yourself."

"While being a Rodilik demon I think I can," Alexis said. "Rodilik demons must be strong demons."

"Most if not all demons are stronger than humans," Eleanor said.

"Well, I'm not that strong in my human form, so I'm guessing a half echo demon with a natural human appearance doesn't fall under that rule," Alexis said.

"Yeah, I believe that an echo demon like you is the most restricted shape-shifting demon of all shape-shifting demons," Eleanor said. "You can't even shape-shift when you want."

"I hate that I have to drink blood or eat flesh in order for me to shape-shift," Alexis said.

Alexis and Eleanor carried the vampire to the back of the cab and laid him down on the ground. Eleanor went to grab the key out of the ignition as Alexis moved the bag of fish off of the vampire. Once Eleanor returned with the key and opened the truck, Alexis and Eleanor stuffed the vampire into the truck and shut the truck lid.

"Now that that's done let's go find that bird," Eleanor said as Alexis bent down to pick up the bag.

After Alexis stood upright, she said, "Eleanor, I should go look for the pankandor alone. After all, I'm the one who looks like a Rodilik, so I have the better chance of not getting eaten."

Eleanor looked around fearfully while saying, "I don't want to stand here alone."

"Well, get inside the cab and lock the doors," Alexis said.

Eleanor hesitantly nodded before saying, "To be able to eat people the pankandor has to be a giant of a bird and a bird like that is not the type of bird to let roam free in the house. So I'm guessing that the bird would be caged in the back yard or kept in the basement."

"The backyard sounds like a good place to start; thanks," Alexis said.

"Just hurry," Eleanor said. "I don't want to sit out here alone for long."

"I'll hurry," Alexis said. She then turned and walked towards the house that the vampire had pointed out to her.

Alexis cautiously went to the back of the house. At the far end of a large backyard set a large shed with dark tinted windows. Firewood was stacked up along one side of the shed.

Alexis stepped up to one of the windows and try to look in, but couldn't; however, she could hear movement inside. She pondered her thoughts for a moment before glancing over at the firewood. She stepped up to the firewood and selected one of the largest pieces. She walked to the side with a window that wasn't in view of the house and pounded on it until it broke. Once the window shattered, she knocked the jagged edges off to where she wouldn't cut herself and then peeked in.

After seeing what was inside, she stepped back with a worried expression on her face while saying, "Okay; four fish aren't going to be enough." She turned and cautiously returned to the front.

When Alexis came into view of the cab, she saw Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cat and Amber next to the cab. Xander and Cat each had a crossbow. Willow was carrying a lunchbox with the remaining eight fish. Eleanor was nowhere to be seen. The van was parked a few feet from the cab. Buffy saw her approaching and knew that it was her from the clothes that she was wearing.

Once Alexis, stepped up to her, Buffy ordered, "Get in the van with Eleanor. I'll deal with you later."

"Buffy…" Alexis was able to get out.

"I don't want to hear it," Buffy interrupted with.

"You seriously need to," Alexis quickly said.

"Tell me, Alexis. What do I seriously need to hear?" Buffy unpleasantly asked.

"There are a large number of featherless odd looking birds in a shed in the back yard," Alexis said. "Since we are dealing with pankandor birds I'm thinking that those featherless birds are baby pankandor birds."

"What in hell is the wizard going to do with a flock of pankador birds?" Xander questioned.

"Nothing good I imagine," Willow said.

"A large number of baby pankandor can't be from one mother pankandor either," Xander added. "There has to be more than one adult pankandor inside."

"Thanks, Alexis, for the information," Buffy said before pounding started from within the trunk of the cab. "Now…" Buffy looked at the trunk lid. "Is there someone in the trunk?"

"Yeah; a vampire," Alexis said. "Eleanor and I crossed paths with him soon after we got here. We were able to subdue him."

"But instead of staking him, you two decided to stuff him in a trunk?" Cat questioned.

"We had no stake," Alexis said.

"You had no stake?" Xander questioned while glancing at the trees in front of him.

"If we had, we would have staked him," Alexis said.

"A stake is nothing more than a wooden stick with a pointing tip," Buffy said. "And where does wood come from?"

"Home Depot is a nice place to get wood," Alexis said. Buffy looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "You're meaning from trees, aren't you?"

Buffy nodded with a grin while saying, "Yes; from trees. Now, do you see any trees around here?"

Alexis glanced over at a tree that was almost directly in front of her view before saying in a slight embarrassed tone, "Yes."

"Yes, so just break of a branch that is about ten inches long and at least an inch thick and you have a stake," Buffy said. "Now go joined Eleanor in the van and let her know too that stakes do grow on trees."

"Will do," Alexis said with a nod just. Buffy took the crossbow from Cat.

"I'll take that," Willow said while gesturing to the bag of fish that Alexis held.

Alexis handed Willow the bag, but before she could walk away, the vampire busted opened the trunk lid. Buffy saw his demon face when he sat up and looked at her.

"Slayer," the vampire hissed just before Buffy fired the crossbow.

Just as the vampire burst into dust, the front door to the wizard's placed opened up. Three male Rodilik demons stepped out.

Alexis saw them and gestured towards them while saying, "Buffy, we have company."

"Alexis, go to the van," Buffy ordered as she turned towards the Rodiliks. "We'll handle this." She then handed the crossbow back to Cat. Cat reloaded it.

As the Rodiliks were approaching Buffy and her group, they stared briefly at Alexis as she was walking towards the van.

Buffy and her group met the Rodiliks midway. As they stepped up, one of the Rodiliks said, "Buffy, Willow, Xander and Cat. Welcome. I've been told that I don't have to explain as to how I know your names."

"So far every demon and a percentage of the human population in D.C. have Lowkey in their heads," Buffy said.

The Rodilik glanced towards the van while saying, "Apparently not every demon."

"She's new to D.C.," Buffy said.

"I figured that one out myself," the Rodilik said. "So is she a sensitive?"

"I don't know what a sensitive is, but I'm certain that the answer is no," Buffy said.

"A sensitive can sense other Rodiliks while miles apart," the Rodilik said. "You did use her to sense us, didn't you?"

"Actually, we used a locator spell for that; not a sensitive," Buffy said as a car was driving up. "We're looking for Wilson Zachary Ford; AKA the Wizard."

"You found him." He then gestured towards the bag of fish before saying, "Raw fish. I'm guessing that you think I own a pankandor bird and that you know that a pankandor bird's first choice of meat is raw fish. Well, you messed up, Slayer. I don't own one pankandor bird, I own four of them and those fish won't be enough to keep my birds occupied for more than a minute."

"Long enough for me to get what I came for," Buffy said.

"You're mistaken," Wilson said while staring passed Buffy and onto the car that was approaching. "Whatever you want from me, I'm afraid you're leaving here empty handed."

Buffy glanced back to see what Wilson was staring at. She faced Wilson again while questioning, "Friend of yours?"

"In a matter of speaking you might say," Wilson said. "He's Detective Long. He might be out of his jurisdiction, but he's here to escort trespassers out of the neighborhood. And I do hope that you resist leaving peacefully."

"I handled the police before," Buffy said as she caught sight of another detective's car approaching with its lights flashing, but no siren. "Oh look. Lowkey is sending more than one cop to get rid of us I see." Buffy faced Wilson in time to see a slight worried expression across his face as he stared at the second car. "Except Lowkey had nothing to do with the second policeman."

Wilson gestured towards the house while telling the other two Rodiliks, "Let's get back inside."

In a very short time, Lowkey while controlling Detective Long's body parked the car and stepped out. As he was approaching, Buffy and her group, eight vampires stepped out from one house while five more stepped out of another house.

Amber noticed the vampires and said, "Buffy, we have company."

"I see them," Buffy said as she glanced between the vampires and Detective Long.


	39. Chapter 39

Lowkey (Detective Long) stopped walking just out of arm's length of Buffy's group and said, "In of the line slayer."

"Not original, but I'll give you a few points just because you have us outnumbered and surrounded," Buffy retorted. "I will win though. And I will get what I came for."

"You're a cocky one," Lowkey (Detective Long) said as the second detective stopped his car. Lowkey (Detective Long) only glanced at the arriving detective long enough to realize that he didn't know him.

"Not cocky; just knowing that this situation isn't anything different from the hundred of times that I've been outnumbered before," Buffy said as the arriving detective was getting out of his car.

"Hey that's Jacob," Cat said.

"Unfortunately for him that you know him," Lowkey (Detective Long) said just before he went for his gun.

Everyone saw that Lowkey (Detective Long) was drawing his gun to shoot Jacob. Jacob stopped in his tracks when he saw the pistol pointed at him; however, Willow was quicker than Lowkey was at pulling the trigger as she had dropped the lunchbox and the bag of fish and quickly waved her hand while saying, "Thicken."

When Detective Long froze, Jacob exclaimed, "What in hell is going on here?"

Before Jacob's question could be answered the vampires charged in. Buffy quickly pulled out the stake that was strapped to her right calf. Just before Buffy and her group mixed it up with the vampires, she blurted to Jacob, "Take his gun before he becomes unfrozen."

Xander and Cat fired their crossbows and dusted two of the vampires before the skirmish began.

Jacob went for Detective Long's gun, but before he could take it, Lowkey (Detective Long) came unfrozen with a slight start. Jacob saw Lowkey (Detective Long) moving and before Lowkey (Detective Long) could assess the situation Jacob had hit him hard across the mouth with a right cross. Lowkey (Detective Long) immediately fell to the ground while losing grip of his gun. Before Lowkey (Detective Long) could retaliate, Jacob slapped the cuffs on him in a hog-tying position while using his right wrist and left ankle.

"Now you just lie there and be still," Jacob told him as he picked up Detective Long's gun and tucked it away. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but judging form the fight that's taking place, it might be a while."

Lowkey had released control over Detective Long just before he said, "What's going on? Why am I handcuffed?"

"Just lie still," Jacob said as he turned towards the fight between Buffy's group and the vampires.

Two vampires had Buffy's arms held while another vampire was about to pound on her.

"I'm Detective Long and you have assaulted a policeman," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; just relax until I come back for you," Jacob said just before taking off to help Buffy.

Before Jacob was able to take two steps, Buffy had swung her legs up and wrapped them around the third vampire's head. Buffy twisted her body while breaking free from the two vampires' grips and flipping the third.

Jacob stopped in his tracks and watched Buffy as she dove to where she had lost her stake, grabbed it, rolled back onto her feet and dusted the three vampires within seconds of each other.

As Jacob was watching in awe of the sight, he was blindsided by a vampire and knocked to the ground.

Willow saw Jacob on the ground just as the vampire was about to pounce. Willow raised her hand to cast her magic, but before she had a chance to do so Jacob had pulled out a stake from under his pant's leg at the ankle and staked the vampire just below the ribcage. The vampire had recoiled in pain.

Jacob had never let go of the stake and when the stake was pulled out of the vampire's torso it was dripping with blood. Willow saw what had happened and quickly called out to Jacob, "Pierce its heart."

Jacob heard Willow and before the vampire could get out of arm distance of Jacob, Jacob drove the stake into the vampire's chest while piercing the heart. Once the vampire had exploded into dust, Jacob got back on his feet and charged at another vampire.

Alexis was still appearing as a Rodilik demon. She and Eleanor were out of the van and were watching the skirmish. "Should we do something to help?" Alexis asked.

"No," Eleanor said. "Our presence in the fight would only cause Buffy's attention to be split between the vampires and protecting us. At least that's what Cassandra told us if we would find ourselves in situations like this… oh, when I say 'us' and 'we' I mean the potentials."

Alexis gave Eleanor a polite grin before saying, "I figure as much." Alexis then caught sight of Wilson letting loose his four pankandor birds. She quickly looked to see where the lunchbox and the bag of fish were. When she saw that the fish were slightly away from where the skirmish was taking place, she took off running for the fish.

"Alexis! Stop! Come back!" Eleanor blurted out. Alexis heard Eleanor, but ignored her. Eleanor just crossed her arms and slightly huffed when she saw that Alexis wasn't stopping.

Buffy had dusted two more vampires and when she turned to see where the other vampires were, she spotted Alexis.

"Alexis! Get back!" Buffy ordered. Alexis ignored Buffy.

Cat caught sight of the pankandor birds and exclaimed, "Shit! Buffy, birds as big as the Cardinal's Fredbird are coming our way."

The remaining vampires were also distracted by Alexis. As the vampires' focus was on her, Buffy and her group had took the opportunity of the distraction to finish them off.

When Jacob saw the four large birds, he drew his pistol and began shooting at them; however, his police issued pistol had no real effect.

"Put that away, before you hit one of us," Willow hissed at Jacob. She then rattled off a spell to cast a lightning bolt at the birds. The lightning bolt knocked two of the birds back, but it didn't kill them. In seconds the two birds were back on their feet and charging towards Buffy's group again.

Alexis got to the lunchbox and the bag of fish; grabbed them on a run while barely slowing down and took of running full speed towards the birds. She quickly got the lunchbox open and as she was a short distance from the birds, she began tossing the fish towards them.

"What in hell is that?" Jacob asked while referring to Alexis.

"Her name is Alexis," Buffy said. "She's with us."

"She's not human," Jacob commented.

"She's half human actually," Xander said.

The birds went for the fish as if they were delectable treats. Alexis tried to distribute the twelve fish equally between the four birds, but one of the birds had gobbled down four while one of the birds was only able to gobble down two. Once the fish were gone the four birds turned towards Alexis and wildly flapped their wings.

Buffy saw the fear-stricken look that came across Alexis' face. Alexis had backed up a step before Buffy was able to call out to Alexis, "They're not threatening you. Like a dog that wildly wags its tail while happy to see its master, a pankandor bird will wildly flap its wings."

"So they're just begging for more fish," Jacob surmised aloud.

"That would be my guess," Willow said.

"Alexis, I think they can't sense that you're not a Rodilik demon, so try to get them to follow you until the poison takes effect," Buffy said.

"Poison?" Jacob questioned.

"Those fish are naturally poisonous," Buffy said as Alexis moved away from Buffy and the others while enticing the birds with the fish-smelling lunchbox.

Alexis had led the birds away from Buffy and the others for a good distance just before she shape-shifted back into her original form. The birds immediately began to honk.

"Alexis! Run!" Willow quickly said.

"She just… wow she's a shape-shifter," Jacob exclaimed as Alexis fled as quick as she could.

"Yes; kind of," Amber said.

Alexis didn't run very far when she tripped. Everyone saw that she was in danger and rushed in to assist. Willow fired lighting bolts at the birds. As Alexis was quickly attempting to get back on her feet one of the birds reached her and chomped off her left arm just above the elbow. Alexis let out a painful cry as she fell to the ground and grabbed a bloody stump. Willow repeatedly fired moderately intense electrical bolts at the birds in order to drive the birds back away from Alexis.

Buffy was the first one to Alexis' side. Alexis was in shock looking at her stump of an arm while saying, "My arm! My arm! Where is it?"

"Calm down," Buffy quickly told Alexis. "Xander! Come here! Quick!"

"My arm! Where's my arm?" Alexis kept saying.

"Alexis, listen to me," Buffy said as Xander was hurrying to Buffy's side. "Trust me. It will be alright." Buffy faced Xander as he stepped up. "Xander, slash your wrist."

"What?" Xander quickly questioned in a slightly stunned manner.

"Alexis needs to drink blood in order to shape-shift before her arm begins to heal over," Buffy quickly said. "She can't drink my blood because my blood will speed up her healing."

"Okay, but for the record I have no idea why you want her to shape-shift; especially in her condition," Xander said as he pulled out a pocketknife.

"You'll see," Buffy said as Xander slashed his wrist.

When Xander pressed his blood-dripping wrist against Alexis' lips, Buffy said, "Alexis drink Xander's blood." Alexis had changed her appearance into a female teenaged Xander as soon as her lips came in contact with the blood. Alexis attempted to pull back, but Buffy kept her from doing so. "Alexis, you can have your arm back, but you have to drink the blood. And you have to do it now or your arm will never grow back."

Alexis stopped resisting and began drinking Xander's blood with her eyes closed. Within seconds Alexis arm began to grow like a sapling to a tree that was filmed over a long period of time and played in fast motion. Xander and Jacob watched in bewilderment at the sight of Alexis re-growing her missing arm.

"That's amazing," Jacob said barely loud enough for Buffy to hear.

Buffy waited a few seconds after Alexis' arm, hand and fingers grew out completely before telling Alexis and Xander, "Enough. Alexis, look at your arms, hands and fingers."

Alexis stopped drinking Xander's blood and gazed at her new arm and hand first. She uttered out while being giddy, "Oh my God. Oh my God. I have my arm and hand back. I'm whole again."

Buffy smiled at Alexis while saying, "Yes, you are."

Alexis got back on her feet and gave Buffy a hug while saying, "Thank you, Buffy; thank you; thank you."

"You're welcome," Buffy said before Alexis ended the hug. She then whispered. "Xander was the one who donated the blood, so you should thank him too."

Xander was wrapping his wound while saying, "I knew full-blooded echo demons could re-grow limbs, but I didn't know half echo demons like Alexis could."

"Thank you, Xander," Alexis said just before catching him off guard with a hug.

Xander kept himself from being knock over by Alexis as Buffy was saying, "A half echo demon can as long as the wound is fresh."

"You're welcome, Alexis," Xander said before the hug ended.

Buffy had continued to say, "If the wound was completely healed before shape-shifting again, it wouldn't have grown back. If the healing process had begun then her arm, hand and fingers would have grown back not fully formed."

"So because of your slayer healing ability, Alexis' arm, hand and fingers could have grown back wrong if she would have drunk your blood," Xander said almost as a question.

"Not could have; would have," Buffy said before turning her head to see the sight of Willow keeping the birds at bay with her electrical bolts. Cat and Amber were doing what they could to assist Willow.

"So this… 'girl' is a good demon?" Jacob asked as Buffy glanced at her watch.

"She is a non-threatening half demon…" Buffy said.

"I'm a half echo demon on my dad's side" Alexis added.

"And as far as her being good; well that's a matter of perspective since she's a seventeen-year-old teenager who disobeyed me and came here when I told her not to," Buffy continued to say while looking straight at Alexis.

"Which I'm truly sorry for," Alexis sincerely said. "And I'll make you proud of me in the future if you don't kick me out on my first day here."

Buffy gave Alexis a curious look while saying, "I'm not kicking you out, Alexis. However, you will be disciplined."

Alexis slightly cringed before saying, "In what way?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet, and this isn't the time or the place to get into it," Buffy said as she glanced over at the birds and then her watch again. "The birds should be keeling over any time now."

"So, Alexis, you can shape-shift?" Jacob questioned while staring at the sight of Willow, Cat and Amber keeping the birds from attacking.

"Well, not at will," Alexis said.

Alexis was about to explain to Jacob when Buffy said, "Alexis, you helped out all you can, so go to the van with Eleanor and this time, stay there."

"I was going to tell… 'him' how I shape shift," Alexis said.

"Alexis," Buffy said in a stern tone. "Go to the van."

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Alexis said.

"I'm Detective Jacob Scott by the way," he said before Alexis stepped away.

"Nice to meet you." She then said while walking towards Eleanor. "I'm Alexis Wilson."

"I heard Alexis calling you Buffy," Jacob said while looking at her.

"Yes, that's me," she said. "I heard about how you helped out Cat and a few others from my group the other day."

"True and since that day, I've been carrying a stake when I'm on duty," Jacob said.

"I don't blame you," Buffy said while glancing at Willow and the birds. Cat and Amber continued to help where they could.

"So what's Alexis' true appearance and how does she shape shift?" Jacob asked.

"How she appeared when the bird attacked her is her true appearance," Buffy began. "Consuming blood and raw flesh of other people or creatures is how she shape shift and her shape-shifting appearance will mock the person or creature of where the blood or flesh is from."

"Alexis didn't change into Xander," Jacob pointed out as Buffy saw one of the birds drop from the poison.

As Buffy was staring at the bird, she hesitated for a second before saying, "She changed into a seventeen-year-old female version of him actually. Maintaining age and gender are traits of a half echo demon. A full echo demon is bi-gender though and will assimilate completely of what it's mocking. In fact, the only clue you'll have of a full echo demon mocking a person is that it won't have the person's memories. However, it does maintain the memories of previous times that it had shape shifted, so it can pretty much get by without bringing too much attention to itself."

"When I first saw Alexis, she was appearing as… I think I heard you say a Rodilik demon," Jacob said.

"True," Buffy said.

"I know I can't put what you say into a police report, but I must ask," Jacob began. "What's going on?"

During the few minutes that it took for the three remaining birds to drop from the poison Buffy explained the situation to Jacob along with why Detective Long had threatened him. When the last one dropped Buffy told Jacob, "It's time to get the answers from Wilson." Buffy gestured towards Detective Long. "You should probably bring him." Jacob just nodded before walking towards Detective Long.

Buffy broke down the front door of the house. The house appeared to be a normal two-story house with a basement and after entering the house Cat and Amber went upstairs; Xander looked around on the first floor and Buffy and Willow started into the dimly lit basement. Buffy had looked for a light switch before going down, but where the light switch should be was just a covering plate.

Detective Long's hands were handcuffed and as Jacob was leading him into the basement behind Buffy and Willow, Detective Long continued to say, "Detective Scott, if you release me right now then I'll recommend therapy rather than prison for you and your friends."

Buffy had reached the bottom of the steps when she turned around and hissed to Detective Long, "Shut up before I gag you." Willow was in between her and Detective Long and after hissing she saw Willow gazing farther into the basement with a slight disturbed expression on her face. "Will, what is it?"

Willow pointed to a circle with a pentagram, symbols and lit candles that were ritually arranged within the circle while saying, "Those symbols are arranged to create portals, so Wilson might have jumped dimensions."

Jacob gestured towards a string dangling from a light while saying, "There's the light."

Buffy stepped over to the light and turned it on. Willow stepped up to the circle and examined the symbols. Jacob gazed over the basement when he reached the bottom. The basement was moderate size and was practically empty. It had a washer and dryer; a furnace/air conditioning unit and a hot water heater. A few boxes were neatly stacked against the wall along with a few other items.

When Buffy faced Willow again after switching on the light, she asked, "Can you determined where they went?"

"Not by looking at this," Willow said. "However, I know a spell that can reopen their portal, but the spell can take up to an hour to do."

Lowkey was controlling Detective Long again and laughed before saying, "The wizard will have jumped several more dimensions before you reopened the original portal."

"Get rid of Lowkey's control over him first and then I want you to reopen the portal," Buffy said.

Before Willow could respond, Xander yelled down while he was entering the steps, "It's all clear on the first and second floors."

"We believe they had escape into another dimension," Buffy said while facing Xander. Cat and Amber were entering the basement behind Xander.

"As soon as I get rid of Lowkey's control over Detective Long, I'm going to attempt to reopen their portal," Willow said for Xander, Cat and Amber to hear. Willow then began the spell.

Cat saw Jacob looking at the ceiling and calculating in his head. Jacob noticed Cat giving him a curious look before she whispered, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Everything's just peachy," Jacob whispered back. "There's something I have to do upstairs though." He then turned and walked towards the steps.

Even though Buffy heard Jacob whispering she couldn't make out what was said. When Jacob walked away, Buffy stepped up to Cat and asked, "Where's he going?"

"He said that there was something he had to do upstairs," Cat said.

"Go up with him and find out what that something is," Buffy said.

"Okay," Cat said before she walked away.

When Buffy turned towards Willow and Detective Long, Lowkey laughed and said, "It won't be much longer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the world will have never heard of you." When Buffy just looked at him without answering, Lowkey continued to heckle her while trying to get under her skin.

Upstairs Jacob was walking away from the basement door when he heard Cat entering the room. When he looked back, Cat said, "Buffy sent me up here to find out what you are doing."

Jacob grinned before saying, "I didn't want to say in front of Lowkey, but the basement seems to be a tad smaller to me than what it should be. I wanted to be sure though before I said something to Buffy."

"Are you thinking that there might be a hidden room?" Cat asked.

"No; not a room, but possibly a two to three-foot wide closet-like space," Jacob said.

"The wheels in your head are spinning because you think that the basement should be two to three feet longer or wider?" Cat questioned.

"Hey, talking on experience here, those hidden spaces can make nice hiding spots," Jacob said as Amber stepped into the room from the steps.

When Jacob and Cat looked at her, she said, "We might be here for an hour or more, so Buffy wants me to go outside and get Alexis and Eleanor."

As Amber walked towards the front door, Jacob went to measure the upstairs by counting footsteps while using the basement stairs as a reference point. Cat just watched Jacob in a manner as if he had lost his mind as he was making his measurement.

Once Jacob was done, he went back downstairs followed by Cat. When he reached the bottom, he glanced at Willow as she was standing next to the circle while chanting in Latin.

When he glanced over at Buffy, Buffy asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jacob said. "Since Willow is still dong the incantation, am I right to think that Detective Long is still bugged?"

"I was never mystically bugged and to hell with therapy; all of you are going to prison," Detective Long uttered out. Detective Long was still handcuffed.

"He's debugged," Buffy said. "And in denial; which is not a big shocker. Willow is doing the spell to reopen the portal."

"Although I would love to watch a portal being open, I don't think it's necessary," Jacob said as he began looking over the room once again and calculating the distance to each wall from the top of the steps. "I believe your demons are still in this dimension."

When Buffy gave him a curious look, Cat said, "He thinks that there's a hidden walk-in closet down here."

"Not a closet per se," Jacob said as he walked to the wall that he thought that should've been longer. Buffy, Xander and Cat were right behind him. "But a little hide-a-way space."

Willow ended her chant and turned towards Jacob as he examined the wall.

Detective Long stepped closer to Jacob and questioned, "Now what was your badge number again, Detective Scott?"

"Gagging him is sounding better and better," Jacob said as he began to lightly tap on the wall between the two two-square-foot pillars that were at the two corners while listening for a hollow sound.

Detective Long had his head slightly bowed in disgust and saw clean cracks at the left pillar. He thought for a second before saying, "Hey, genius. I believe the pillar to your left is what you're looking for. If I'm not mistaken, it pulls out."

"How do you know?" Cat asked him.

"It's clean at its lower cracks, which means that it hasn't been stationary far very long," Detective Long said.

"Well, let's find out," Buffy said while walking up to the pillar. Buffy had found something to grip onto and yank harder than what she needed to. The pillar flew towards her face, but she was able to stop it just before hitting herself in the head. "Okay, that's totally moveable."

Jacob peeked first before saying, "I never expected this at all."

Buffy had set the pillar down and was facing Jacob when she asked, "What do you see?"

"I see stairs leading down into a sub-level and it's lit up down there," Jacob said before it went dark. "And now it's not lit up."

"Crap; they know that we know that they're down there," Buffy said.

"Not very surprising with the noise you made," Detective Long said. "Now, I don't believe in demons, but people are definitely up to no good at this address. If you un-handcuff me, I'll help."

"Are you volunteering to go first into the hole?" Cat asked.

"No," Detective Long quickly said with a smirk. "If I drove here as you guys claim then my car is outside. And inside the trunk of my car are three canisters of tear gas and four gas masks."

"You carry that stuff in you car?" Cat asked.

"They were put there this morning to storm in on a hostage situation, but the hostage taker had given up within a short time with no causalities or injuries," Detective Long said.

Buffy looked over at Willow before asking, "Are Rodilik demons impervious to tear gas?"

"I would like to say no, but knowing the little tidbits like that is more Andrew's area of expertise," Willow said. "And he's not here."

"I have my phone," Cat quickly said.

"There's no phone service to where he's at," Xander said.

"Where is he?" Cat asked.

"He doesn't live in our dimension anymore, Sweetie," Willow said.

Cat was about to ask another question when Buffy said, "Okay, well, let's try the tear gas and hope for the best."

Detective Long turned his handcuffed hands towards Jacob while saying, "You can remove these now."

Buffy nodded to Jacob before saying, "Detective Long, you'll remain here; Cat will go and get the items from your trunk."

"You don't trust me," Detective Long commented.

"It's nothing personal," Buffy said as Jacob removed the handcuffs.

Once the handcuffs were off, Detective Long reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He picked out the trunk key before holding them out for Cat to take and saying, "I know what's in my trunk and I'll know if something comes up missing."

"I don't like what you're insinuating," Cat quickly said while taking the keys. "You don't know me."

"I know people," Detective Long said.

"Well, I'm no thief you cynical jackass," Cat said.

Buffy stepped in between the two while saying, "That's enough. Cat, go get the items."

Cat hesitated for only a moment before she turned away from Detective Long and walked towards the steps while mumbling, "Jackass."

After Cat left, Amber entered the basement with Alexis and Eleanor. Alexis was appearing as her true appearance.

When Detective Long saw the teenaged girls he questioned, "You're dragging kids into your delusions?"

"We're not kids," Eleanor quickly said.

"What delusions?" Alexis asked.

"He doesn't believe that demons are real," Xander said.

"Demons are real," Alexis told Detective Long. "In fact, I am one… well, I'm a half demon anyway."

"You're a demon?" Detective Long skeptically asked.

"Alexis, you really should not be too upfront with that fact," Buffy said. "If the wrong people find out, that would be very bad for you."

"You people need serous help," Detective Long said.

"I can prove that I'm demon," Alexis said. "All I need…"

"You don't have to prove anything to him, Alexis," Buffy said.

"I don't mind," Alexis said. "And all I need is a few drops of his blood."

"If all she needs is a few drops of my blood to prove she's a demon then I would love to see this," Detective Long said while pulling out a pocketknife. He then pricked his finger with the point of the knife and squeezed the wound for the blood to bubble out. "Now what?"

Alexis held out her hand with her palm up and said, "Wipe your blood on me."

Detective Long slightly shook his head in disbelief while saying, "Okay." Once he wiped his blood on Alexis' palm, he stared at Alexis as if she was a ghost after she had shape-shifted. Within three seconds, Alexis had changed back, but Detective Long continued to stare at her as if she was a ghost.

"I did shape-shift, didn't I?" Alexis asked.

"You did, but only for a moment," Jacob said with a slight confused expression on his face.

"You're a shape-shifting demon?" Detective Long asked.

"Yeah, but…" Alexis was only able to get out.

"Why her?" Detective Long demanded to know. Alexis gave Detective Long a confuse look. "Why did you shape shift into her?

"Why who?" Buffy asked.

"My twin sister," Detective Long quickly said. "Why did you shape shift into her?"

"I… I don't control who I shape shift into," Alexis timidly and quickly said.

Buffy stepped between Alexis and Detective Long while saying, "Your blood was what governed her appearance. Alexis is an echo demon; however, she's harmless."

"Well that harmless echo demon had better not echo into my sister again or I won't be harmless to her," Detective Long warned.

"She has no control over it," Buffy said in Alexis' behalf. "Blood other than her own is what causes her to shape-shift and it was your blood that caused her to look like your sister."

"Then she had better stay away from me when I'm bleeding," Detective Long warned.

"I thought Alexis had to consume the blood," Jacob commented.

"Touching it will do it too, but as you saw it only lasts for moment." Buffy then asked Detective Long, "So how old was your sister when she died?"

"How did you know that she's dead?" Detective Long asked.

"Because I don't think you would have acted as if she had desecrated your sister's memory if she wasn't," Buffy said.

Detective Long gave a quick nod before saying, "She was eighteen when she was murdered. The day her body was found was the day I decided to become a cop."

"I'm sorry that I offended you, Detective…" Alexis said.

"Don't apologize to him, Alexis," Jacob said. "You did nothing wrong."

Alexis gestured towards the steps while saying, "I'll be over here and out of everyone's way." Buffy just politely nodded with a grin.

As Alexis walked away, Detective Long asked Buffy, "And what are you again?"

"I'm a slayer," Buffy said before explaining what a slayer was.

Buffy was still explaining when Cat returned with the tear gas, the four gas masks and a couple of flares.

When Detective Long saw what Cat had, he said, "I see you help yourself to the flares."

"It's dark down there and I figured that these would lighten the place up," Cat said.

"Good thinking," Buffy said before taking a gas mask. "Willow, Amber, Cat and I get a gas mask. Everyone else, go upstairs in case the tear gas inadvertently fills the basement."

"Why are those three with you?" Detective asked.

"A witch and two slayers will be more helpful to me than two detectives," Buffy said. "No offence to either of you."

"None taken here," Jacob said. "Let's go Detective Long."

"Fine," Detective Long said.

Buffy, Willow, Amber and Cat were each putting on a gas mask as the others went up the steps. Once everyone was upstairs, Buffy activated two canisters of the tear gas and threw them down into the sub-level. She then waited a couple of seconds and tossed down a flare.


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N I have one more chapter to this story before this story is finished. I'm planning to continue this saga though and start another story while starting at where this one stops.**

**The following is to answer Louie Pastiche's question. **

**Disclaimers: Shows, Characters and other tidbits that I don't own, but had appeared in my story. **

**Of course Joss Whedon owns the Buffy and Angel shows and characters. (I didn't think I needed to list the Buffy and Angel characters.)**

**TimeCop **

TEC – Time Enforcement Commission

Capt. Eugene Matuzek // Officer Jack Logan // Dr. Dale Easter // Claire Hemmings

**Supernatural **

Sam Winchester // Dean Winchester // Ellen Harvelle

**Painkiller Jane**

Jane Vasco // Andre McBride // Conner King // Riley Jensen (the name was mention in the story)

**Bones **

Temperance Brennan // Seeley Booth // Angela Montenegro // Zack Addy // Jack Hodgins // Camille Saroyan

A paragraph from chapter 3. (While Dean and Sam were near New Orleans)

"You don't think that it's weird that every twenty years or so, the current owner of that house transfers ownership of the house to a complete stranger who is around the age of twenty just before the owner becomes a bedridden-incoherent stroke victim?"

I was using the plot from the movie 'Skeleton Key' with that paragraph.

* * *

Just as Buffy was about to lead the charge into the sub-level, she caught sight of figures within the haze making their way up the steps and heard sniveling shouts, "We give. We're coming up." 

"Back up," Buffy told her group.

Seconds after Buffy and her group moved away from the steps, fifteen Rodilik demons, six adult females, four adult males and five children between the ages of a few weeks old and a year old came stepping out in a single file. The children were being carried.

Most of the Rodilik demons were heavily coughing and their noses were running. Buffy took off the gas mask followed by Willow, Cat and Amber. After a few seconds, Wilson stopped coughing long enough to say, "You may have found us, Slayer, but you won't get anything from us."

"Let's test that shall we," Buffy said. "Willow, debug them."

"We were debugged when she debugged Detective Long," Wilson hissed.

"I'm not sensing that they are bugged," Willow confirmed. "So it's possible. Of course Valerie would be the one to know for sure."

"It doesn't really matter anyway if Lowkey can hear at this point," Buffy said. "I'm looking for him and he knows it, so here's what I came here for. What kind of demon is Lowkey and where can I find him? And a wrong answer will result in…"

"You would hurt us or kill us?" one of the females interrupted with.

"All we want is to live peacefully with our husband and children," another female said.

"And you call us demons," the first female continued with.

"You just want to live here peacefully?" Buffy mocked. "You're raising a large number of dangerous pankandor birds in a shed in the backyard. How is that living here peacefully?"

"We're raising them for food," the female said.

"It's against the Rodilik religion to eat pankandor birds," Willow quickly said.

"So we don't follow our religion," the female said.

"Regardless as to why you're raising them, here's what's going to happen," Buffy said. "Wilson is going to tell me what kind of demon Lowkey is, where I can find him and then I'll let all of you live your lives in peace in the Castryis dimension."

"You would send us back there," the female asked.

"I have no incentive to let you stay," Buffy said.

"And I have no incentive to tell you where to find Lowkey," Wilson said.

"Then I'll give you one," Buffy said before she strolled over to the circle and symbols. "Will, this circle and symbols are set up for portals, aren't they?"

"They are," Willow said.

"How many different dimensions can you open with that?" Buffy asked.

"At least twenty," Willow said.

"How many of those dimensions are to a hell dimension?" Buffy asked.

"At least ten of them," Willow said. "Most likely more if I research it."

"Ten hell dimensions is perfect actually," Buffy said.

"You would send us to a hell dimension if I won't talk?" Wilson asked.

"What I would do, Wilson, is send each of your companions into his or her own hell dimension," Buffy corrected. "Of course I'll leave each mother and child together, but all of the adults will be separated from each other. And as far as you, Wilson, you will be coming with me. And I will torture you until you answer. Now is that incentive enough for you?"

"You're bluffing," Wilson tested.

"Will, open a portal to a hell dimension," Buffy said. "If possible make it the one that Andrew is in."

Willow held back a grin before saying, "I can." She then asked to play along with Buffy, "Are you sure you want to do that to one of them?"

"I prefer not to, but I'm not playing around here," Buffy said. "Open that portal."

Willow looked at Wilson and cringed before saying, "Okay."

Wilson just skeptically watched as Willow stepped up to the circle and began to chant her incantation.

It took only seven minutes for Willow to open the portal. Once it was open, Buffy glanced between the Rodilik demons. She pointed to one of the females who was holding a child while saying, "Cat; Amber, escort that Fenuse with her child over here."

"Don't," Wilson quickly said.

"Then tell me how to find Lowkey," Buffy sternly demanded. Wilson just looked away from Buffy without answering. "Cat; Amber, put that Fenuse and her child into the portal."

"Wizard, tell her," the female begged.

"Okay," Wilson finally said. "You need a portal to get to Lowkey. Shut down the portal to that hell dimension and I'll tell you the spell."

Buffy just gave Willow a nod. Once the portal had closed Wilson took the time to explain how to get to Lowkey; however, they needed someone or some demon or even an animal that was mystically bugged to do it. Wilson also was insistent that he didn't know what kind of demon Lowkey was and that he had never came face to face with him.

After learning what she did, Buffy said, "Will, open a portal to the Castryis dimension. Everyone except for Wilson is going home."

"Why are you keeping the wizard from going with us?" one of the females wanted to know.

"Oh, he will be joining you as soon as I know that the spell he gave me will lead me to Lowkey," Buffy said. "Oh and for the record; the dimension that Andrew is in is not a hell dimension. In fact the dimension he's in is much like this one, but it's slightly more advance in technology and magic. Of course anyone other than human that I send there would've been imprisoned immediately and would have remained in prison until I got him or her released."

"So you were bluffing?" a female questioned.

"No, I would have sent all of you into a hell dimension if nothing else I tried first would have worked," Buffy assured them. "I'm just glad that things didn't get that far."

Buffy then nodded to Willow to begin the incantation for the portal. Ten minutes later the portal opened up and the Rodilik demons except for Wilson were ushered into the Castryis dimension.

Once the portal had closed, everyone went up stairs. Buffy and Willow went up the steps last just behind Wilson. Cat and Amber went up first.

When Buffy and the others stepped into the room with the others, Detective Long curiously stared at Wilson for a moment before saying, "I see you found your demon."

"I did," Buffy said. "Once we destroy that bird nursery in the backyard, we're done here."

"Jacob and I went out there and destroyed it already," Xander said as he stared at Wilson.

"Oh… good," Buffy said. "Then let's go."

After everyone had left the house and was midway to the vehicles, Jacob said, "Buffy."

When Buffy looked at Jacob, she saw that he was slightly nervous and was selecting the words that he wanted to say. She hesitated for a second before questioning, "Yes?"

"Your world looks interesting and I would like for you to tell me more about it," Jacob said. Buffy gave him a curious look. "Of course I don't mean now, but when things calm down for you."

Buffy gestured towards her surrounding while saying, "This is actually my world."

"I'm talking about…" Jacob was able to get out.

"I know what you're talking about," Buffy quickly said. "But people have the tendency to either die or run screaming for the hills after learning what my world consist of."

"Buffy, I've been carrying a badge for more than ten years, so I'm used to being in danger by the everyday monsters of the human variety," Jacob began. "And like it or not I do live in a world of demons… demons of the non-human variety." Buffy slightly grin. "In short, your world won't kill me any faster than mine will. And since the monsters that I deal with each day haven't pushed me into packing my bags and calling it quits after this long, I doubt that the demons that you deal with will. So what do you say if we go for coffee and you tell me more about your world?"

Buffy grinned while gazing in his eyes and pondering what he had said. After a second, Buffy told him her number and then continued to say, "We can't go for that coffee this evening though, so give me a call tomorrow."

"Will do," Jacob said. "Oh and as far as my investigation on the cab incident, I'm reporting it as a teenage-prank. I'll give the cabdriver the money for the fare and say that I found it on the back seat along with an apology note."

Buffy smiled while saying, "Thank you." She then turned towards her group. "Let's get going everyone."

Once everyone was in his or her respective vehicle, Buffy glanced over at Jacob's vehicle with a slight grin while the drivers of each car were driving away.

"I guess we'll be patrolling tonight to capture rather than kill so we can get our hands on a mystically bugged demon," Amber commented.

"We won't need to, Sweetie," Willow said. "Your cat, Tabby, is bugged."

"My cat is bugged?" Amber quickly questioned. "How do you know?"

"I felt that bug sensation first with Tabby before I did with anyone else," Willow said. "And since I never debugged him, he's our way to Lowkey."

"Buffy, I bet you're glad now that I picked up that stray, aren't you?" Amber playfully asked. Buffy just looked at Amber with a grin while slightly shaking her head.

Dr. Briers, two female vampires recently sired by Dr. Briers, two demons that looked like demons and three more demons that can pass for human were finishing up at assembling the time-machine at Dr. Briers' new headquarters; an empty factory with a large open bay room owned by one of Lowkey's minions. Nine more vampires were standing guard at the entrances along with doing routine patrols throughout the building.

When a demon that stood barely less than four-foot tall entered the bay room, Dr. Briers turned to look once he heard the demon's footsteps. He looked at the demon from head to toe before asking, "What in hell are you?"

"I'm called The Sleeper," the demon said in his squeaky voice. "You're supposed to be expecting me."

"Yes," Dr. Briers said while slightly shaking his head in disbelief at the sight of the size of the demon. "So you're the one that I'm sending to Colorado Springs on the date May 11, 1886. I still have to run a diagnostic check of the system, so it will be another twenty to thirty minutes before I can send you back."

"So why do they call you The Sleeper?" one of the vampires asked.

"My kind eats our prey alive, but we have the strength and appetite proportionally to our size," the demon began. "However, to capture a prey bigger, stronger and faster than us, we can put that prey in suspended animation by scratching it with our claws and injecting it with a venom."

"You keep your distance with those claws," Dr. Briers told him as he walked to the controls to do a diagnostic check of the machine.

"Your blood doesn't circulate, Vampire, so you are impervious to my venom," The Sleeper said.

"So how long can you keep a prey in suspended animation?" one of the vampires asked.

"Indefinitely," The Sleeper said.

"So your prey would stay alive until it dies from old age," the vampire commented.

"No," The Sleeper said. "Once I effect my prey with my venom, the prey stops aging as well. In theory my preys could become immortals if I didn't eat them."

"Can any of your preys come out of suspended animation?" the vampire asked.

"The right antidote could revive anyone of them," The Sleeper said.

"So your mission into the past is what exactly?" Dr. Briers asked while he pressed a combination of buttons on the control panel.

"Lowkey wants me to put one of the Slayer's ancestors in suspended animation for him to revel over as a trophy," The Sleeper said.

"As long as there's a chance to send the slayer's ancestor back into the past, the slayer's timeline will most likely remain unchanged," Dr. Briers cautioned. "Therefore, there's an excellent chance that just capturing the slayer's ancestor without killing him or her won't cause a time shift to where she was never born."

"Actually that's what Lowkey is hoping for," The Sleeper said. "Lowkey feels that it is only a matter of time before the slayer finds him and he wants to see her face when he kills her ancestor in front of her."

"And Lowkey is leaving too much room for Murphy's Law," Dr. Briers said.

"Lowkey doesn't care about human law," The Sleeper said.

"Murphy's Law isn't human law…" Dr. Briers was able to get out.

"Well, I doubt that he cares about anyone else's law either," The Sleeper said.

"It's not an actual…" Dr. Briers said before stopping in mid-sentence. "Actually, do me a favor and just pretend that I didn't mention anything about Murphy's Law."

"Done," The Sleeper said. "So how much longer until the diagnostic check will be done."

"Not soon enough," Dr. Briers mumbled. He then answered normally, "Soon, so just be patient."

On a helicopter en route for Charleston, West Virginia, Nichole and Valerie were quiet as Faith told them her life story as a slayer.

At the Baltimore Airport, Kennedy stepped into the woman's room with a city map and a bag of magic supplies to do a locator spell. A woman in her late forties was there while changing her grandchild's pamper. Kennedy did have to use the bathroom, so she went to a stall after seeing the woman and baby.

The woman and child were still there when Kennedy was done. She noticed that the woman was playing with the child rather than being in a hurry to get the child re-dressed. To speed up getting rid of the woman, Kennedy stepped up to the sink closest to the woman and roughly coughed as if she had a bad cold while she soaped hands.

When the woman glanced over at Kennedy, Kennedy nasally said, "I sure hope I didn't get my sister's flu. She has fluids gushing out at both ends. I just recently got hired as a maid and tomorrow will be my first day, so I can't really afford to get sick like that right now."

The woman gave Kennedy an annoyed look while saying, "Do you mind moving down at the far end and use that sink?"

"What? Because I was hired as a maid, I'm not good enough to wash my hands next to you?" Kennedy quickly questioned with a staged attitude.

"No-no-no; that's not what I meant," the woman quickly said.

Kennedy stepped up in the woman's face and quickly asked in the staged attitude tone, "Then what did you mean?" Kennedy then coughed to the side without covering her mouth.

The woman picked up the child and clothes from the changing table while saying, "Let's forget that I said anything." The woman then rushed out of the restroom while carrying the child and clothes. Kennedy quickly locked the door behind the woman

Kennedy quickly spread out the map on the floor of the restroom and pulled out the magic supplies for the spell. Kennedy attempted to perform the locator spell as quick as she could without making mistakes before someone attempted to get it, but midway through the spell, she heard someone at the door while trying to get in.

The person only tried to get in for a short time before giving up. Six minutes later, Kennedy had left the restroom and was walking away when she saw a female security guard and a woman walking towards the restroom's door. As she glanced at them, they didn't appear as if she had caught their attention.

Sam was walking towards Kennedy and when he saw that Kennedy wasn't noticing him, he called out, "Kennedy." Kennedy turned to look and saw Sam stepping up. "Dean is waiting for us out front with the rental car."

"We're all set then," Kennedy said before gesturing. "Lead the way."

"So were you able to do the spell?" Sam questioned as they started walking towards the exit.

"Of course," Kennedy said.

"So how many spells can you do?" Sam asked.

"Well, locator spells and the spell to un-invite vampires had become a required learning curriculum for all the slayers in the other dimension," Kennedy began. "Willow had taught me a couple of protection spells, but nothing too fancy. I know how to open portals to two other dimensions and that's really about it. What about you? What kind of spells that you know?"

"Dean and I know a few spells," Sam said. "Mainly to get rid of ghosts and trap demons inside the devils trap."

"No offence, but it seems to me that the devil's trap is too time consuming in both work and planning," Kennedy said. "I find it much easier to go toe to toe with them rather than to trap them."

"Well, of course you would think that; you're capable at going toe to toe with powerful demons," Sam said.

"Point taken," Kennedy said.

"So how far of a drive are we looking at?" Sam asked while gesturing towards the map.

"I'm no good at guessing time and distance from a map, but I'll say between fifteen and thirty minutes," Kennedy said before holding up the map. "I circled where we have to go on the map, if you want to take a look for yourself."

"Sure," Sam said as reached for the map.

At TEC head quarters on the dock area, Willow was drawing out the eight-foot circle and symbols to create the portal with Wilson supervising the layout. Buffy, Giles, Xander and Cat stood off to the side next to a weapon's chest while watching Willow.

Amber had gone to her brother's rented apartment for Tabby. She was gone for only a short time before returning while carrying Tabby in a carrier. Willow had been done drawing out the symbols for five minutes when Amber returned. When Willow saw Amber with Tabby, she said, "Place your cat in the center and we will get started."

Before Amber done as instructed, she said, "Okay, for the record, I don't like the idea of using Tabby to open this portal."

"If this makes you feel better, Amber, we'll be going through the same thing that Tabby will be going through," Buffy said.

"Not really, but let's get this over with," Amber said before placing the carrier in the center of the circle.

Cat picked up an ax from the weapon's chest. Xander and Buffy each took a sword.

"Amber, do you want a sword or an ax?" Cat asked.

"A sword will be good," Amber said as she remained standing within the circle.

"Buff, my short sword," Willow said.

"I got it," Buffy said before reaching into the weapon's chest and pulling it out.

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Cat then joined Amber within the circle. Willow and Amber were handed their weapons. Willow also had a bag with a shoulder strap full of magic supplies. Once everyone was set Willow began the incantation to open the portal.

At Charleston airport, Faith, Nichole and Valerie went to the restroom to perform the locator spell. Like with Kennedy, the group locked the restroom door once they were alone in the room before Valerie done the spell.

In Baltimore, Dean drove the rental car. Sam was in the front passenger seat while giving directions. Kennedy was in the back seat and sharpening wooden stakes. After a twenty-five minute drive, Dean pulled into a large and empty parking lot in front of a large closed down factory.

When Dean saw where they where, he said, "This certainly would make an excellent headquarters for Dr. Briers."

"Let's hope Dr. Briers and Lowkey thought so too," Sam said as Dean parked the vehicle.

"Let's hope it's not a trap," Kennedy said as she opened her door followed by Sam. Dean shut off the car and followed suit.

Inside the factory, Dr. Briers told the Sleeper, "It's time."

"Finally," the Sleeper said as a vampire rushed in.

When Dr. Briers turned to look, the vampire said, "Two men and a woman are coming. They have weapons that demon hunters would carry."

"The slayer and her friends found us," Dr. Briers said.

"You have to send me back now, before it's too late," the Sleeper said.

"Relax," Dr. Briers said. "The guards at the door will keep them back long enough to send you into the past. I'm just hoping that the guards can keep them back long enough for me to reset the machine and for me to go into the past. Now get aboard the sled." He then gestured towards the three human looking demons. "You, you and you; get aboard the sled too. We might've been found, but we're not going down in a fizzle."

At the front entrance, Kennedy, Dean and Sam slew the vampires one after the other with slight difficulties. By the time they reached the room with the time machine, Dr. Briers was retrieving the empty sled. The two vampires and two demons had rushed towards the three as they entered the room. Dr. Briers stayed at the control while trying to frantically reset the system.

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cat and Amber along with Tabby while inside the carrier were teleported into a place that was pitched black. Willow immediately rattled off a spell that created light.

"That's a neat spell to learn," Cat said. Willow just grinned.

Everyone glanced around and noticed that they were standing in a nine-foot in diameter round smooth dirt-tunnel. One direction of the tunnel went on as far as the eye can see and in the opposite direction the tunnel ended a few feet away with an indented roundness to the dead end. Six repeating symbols were engraved on the ceiling with only a small gap between each set. The same symbols that Willow drew on the dock to create the portal were engraved in the floor underneath their feet.

"Are we in some kind of cavern?" Amber asked.

"God, let this be a tunnel to a cavern," Xander said.

"What else can this be?" Cat asked.

"A tunnel created by a really really big worm," Xander said before kneeling down and feeling the floor underneath his feet. "Which I'm thinking it is judging from the slickness of our surroundings."

"I really don't want to come face to face with any worm big enough to make a tunnel this size," Amber said.

"We won't," Buffy said.

"How can you be so sure?" Amber asked.

"I do think that a giant worm made this tunnel, but I can only think of one reason why a worm would suddenly stop at this point," Buffy said.

"That the worm died," Cat surmised as Willow noticed the symbols on the ceiling.

"I think we would see the remains of the worm if it had died," Xander said.

"Xander's right," Buffy said. "The worm was magically brought in to create the tunnels and then magically sent back to where it came from," Buffy said. "I just don't know why."

"I can answer that," Willow said as she gestured towards the ceiling.

When Buffy looked up, she asked, "What is it, Will?"

"Those symbols are used for a cloaking spell," Willow said. "If Lowkey is here, he is definitely hiding from someone or most likely from some demon."

"Well, who or what he's hiding from is now the least of his problems." Buffy then gestured into the only direction that they could go while saying, "Let's go. And keep your eyes open."

"What about Tabby?" Amber asked.

"Tabby will be okay where he's at," Buffy said.

"Can we open a portal and send him back?" Amber asked.

"He'll be fine, Amber," Buffy said. "There's only one way to go, so we'll know if something will come in this direction."

"Fine," Amber said in a slight disapproving tone. .

Buffy heard the tone, but ignored it. When she started down the tunnel everyone followed. After walking a short distance, they came upon a dug out chamber that was filled with a large number of bird bones that were the size slightly bigger than a turkey.

Buffy recognized the type of bird that the bones were from and said, "That Fenuse was telling the truth about the pankandor birds being food. They were feeding Lowkey the birds before the birds matured."

"So we sent them back for no reason?" Cat asked.

"They were still up to no good, so…" Buffy got out before everyone heard a drawn out scratching noise echoing in the distance. Buffy trailed off what she was saying as she turned towards the sound, "They still would have been sent home."

When Buffy readied her sword and cautiously walked towards the oncoming sound, the others followed suit.

They came upon intersecting tunnels, but instead of splitting up, they continued down the tunnel that the sound was coming from. They walked several feet more before a plant-like demon stepped into view.

When Buffy reared back her sword, the demon quickly uttered, "I wish you no harm. Please down chop me in half."

"Who… or what are you?" Buffy quickly asked as she kept her sword in the ready position to swing.

"I'm a divarian-root demon from the Krogen dimension and I have no name," the demon said before taking a series of deep breaths towards them.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked as Buffy lowered her sword.

"I'm good," the demon said. "Why do you ask?"

"The way you're smelling us is why I ask," Xander said.

"Oh, I'm not smelling you," the demon said. "I take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And before you five arrived it was quite suffocating down here."

"You're here to provide oxygen to Lowkey," Buffy said.

"I am and because Lowkey is the only creature that is providing me carbon dioxide on a regular basis, I'm only half the size I should be," the demon said.

"So have you come up to us to ask our help at getting out of here?" Willow asked.

"No," the demon said before having a thought. "Can you though?"

"It's possible," Willow said. "First you have to show us to Lowkey."

"That's why I'm here," the demon said. "Lowkey knows that you're here and I was sent to escort all of you to him."

"Before you take us to him, how many other demons are down here?" Buffy asked.

"There are a few divarian-root demons scattered throughout the tunnels," the demon said. "Other than that we're all alone in these tunnels."

"Lowkey doesn't have any minions for protection?" Buffy asked.

"You're the first humans or demons in these tunnels since Kathleen Post…" the demon said.

"Kathleen Post?" Willow angrily blurted out. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know," the demon said.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Willow demanded to know.

"It has been some time since the last time she was here," the demon said.

"Who's Kathleen Post?" Amber asked.

"She was a witch from Witch's Council who was secretly using her magic for her own evil purposes," Willow said. "We found out about her misusing her powers five years ago, but before we could confront her, she opened up a portal into another dimension and disappeared on us."

"Isn't Kathleen Gwendolyn's niece?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Willow quickly grumbled. "How much alike they were at having their own personal evil agenda, they should've been mother and daughter."

"Was Gwendolyn a witch too?" Cat asked.

"Let's stick to the more important questions for now and worry about the trivial questions later," Buffy said. Cat just nodded. "Now, were Lowkey and Kathleen working together?"

"Kathleen Post was the one who had these tunnels created and was the one to bring Lowkey, me and the other divarian-root demons here from the Krogen dimension, but Kathleen stopped coming around," the demon said. "I'm not sure, but I think Dragnot's men captured her."

"Who's Dragnot?" Buffy asked.

"He's the ruler of the Krogen dimension," the demon said.

"Lowkey is hiding from the demon Dragnot and his minions?" Buffy asked.

"He's hiding from Dragnot, but Dragnot and his men are humans," the demon said.

"Why are they after Lowkey," Buffy asked.

"Dragnot's sorcerer created him to find the deviants," the demon said.

"Are the deviants, demons?" Xander asked.

"Deviants are genetically flawed humans," the demon said. "The obvious deformities are easy to spot, but Lowkey was created to find the ones who don't have visible deformities."

"Such as?" Cat questioned. When Buffy glanced at her, she just timidly grinned.

"Such as the people who are color blind or having a bleeding disorder or any other hidden genetic disorder that can be carried over into the next generation," the demon said.

"Why does Dragnot want to find the deviants?" Buffy asked.

"Dragnot is exterminating them all," the demon said. "For five years Lowkey was Dragnot's loyal servant until Kathleen showed up in the Krogen dimension."

"Dragnot wants him back to continue to find the deviants," Buffy said.

"Yes," the demons said.

"Lowkey can control these humans too, can't he?" Willow asked.

"He can control them all; human deviants, animal deviant and demon deviants," the demon said.

"There are demon deviants?" Cat rhetorically questioned barely loud enough to be heard.

"All demon/human hybrids are considered demon deviants," the demon said.

"Are you a demon deviant?" Xander questioned.

"No; I'm no hybrid" the demon quickly said in a tone as if to have been insulted. "So Lowkey can't control my actions."

"So Lowkey came here to hide and found an opportunity to exploit the population," Amber commented almost as a question.

"Yes," the demon said.

"Well that exploitation ends today," Buffy said. "So take us to Lowkey."

"Follow me," the demon said before walking down the tunnel. Buffy and her group followed.

"Root?" Buffy began with an uncertain tone in her voice of what to call the demon. "Divarian-root, how is Lowkey able to make a connection with someone?"

"Originally Lowkey just had to be in the same room with deviants, but Kathleen cast her magic and changed that," the demon said. "Now all it takes for Lowkey to get inside someone's head is for that someone to consume a drop or two of his blood mixed with a few more magical ingredients and then recite a small incantation."

"So the people who aren't deviants become his unsuspecting spies while the deviants become his mindless puppets," Xander commented. "That's a win-win for any demon."

"How does he keep everyone's thoughts from becoming cluttered in his head?" Willow asked.

"A magical looking glass is created for everyone he affects and he can choose which person to either spy through or control by telepathically linking with the magical looking glass," the demon said.

"Again that's Kathleen's magic at work," Willow said.

"How do you know?" Cat asked.

"Two days before the Witch's Council had suspected that Kathleen was up to no good, three magical looking glasses were found in a hidden wine cellar," Willow began. "We found the cellar by chance and when we found the magical looking glasses, it took us a few minutes to realize that those magical looking glasses were being used to spy on certain events through the three head members of the Witch's Council."

"So what's the story with Gwendolyn?" Cat again asked. Buffy took a breath before she told Cat and Amber about what happen with Gwendolyn Post.

**Additional Disclaimer:**

I heard the term 'Deviant' being used in 'Flash Gordon' with the same definition.


	41. Chapter 41

Within a short time, Buffy and her group were led into a chamber by the demon. Symbols different from the cloaking spell had covered the ceiling. On the far side of the fifteen-foot by fifteen-foot chamber was another entryway to another chamber that was fifteen-foot wide by twenty-five-foot long. Several glowing softball-size crystals were randomly scattered to provide light. Willow's light-spell had abruptly ended, but with the glowing crystals no one had noticed; however, when Willow noticed the symbols at the ceiling at the moment she stepped in, she stopped in her tracks.

Buffy stopped also before questioning, "Will?"

"Kathleen had cast the spell that nullifies all magic in this room," Willow said as she was looking at the symbols.

"If a spell was cast to nullify magic, wouldn't that magic-nullifying-spell be nullified?" Cat sincerely asked.

"It doesn't work that way, Sweetie," Willow said. "Once the magic-nullifying-spell is cast then that and that alone is the only spell that will work in the room. To end that spell, you must destroy the symbols which in this case means damaging the ceiling."

"Well, Lowkey is in the same magic-free shape as we are in," Buffy said.

Everyone's attention was then drawn towards the entryway to the other chamber when Lowkey said, "I won't need magic to end your life, Slayer."

Lowkey was shorter than Buffy by four inches and scrawny. As far as scary looking demons go, Lowkey wouldn't have shown up as a threat to Buffy if it wasn't for the fact that he could telepathically control certain people.

After Buffy took a moment to look at Lowkey from head to toe, she said, "So, you're the big bad that is controlling people like puppets. Before I kill you…"

"Oh, you're not killing me, Slayer," Lowkey said before he stepped away from the entryway and walked towards two large bed-sheet-covered objects that were six-foot tall by four-foot wide by four-foot deep.

One of the two objects was setting on another eight-foot circle with symbols that was used for portals. The symbols within that circle were arranged differently though, which made that portal circle distinguishable from the portal circle that Buffy and her group arrived on.

Once Lowkey had moved from the entryway, Buffy and her group walked toward the room that Lowkey was in. When Buffy saw the two sheet-covered objects in the center of the room she questioned, "You're going to stop me from killing you by doing magic tricks?"

When Buffy stepped in the room, Lowkey quickly ordered, "Don't step any farther, Slayer. And your friends aren't welcome in here."

"And you are going to stop us how?" Buffy asked as she cautiously stepped closer.

The others had stopped walking just after entering the room. Willow saw the circle that one of the sheet-covered objects was on. She then looked up at the ceiling and saw the symbols for the cloaking spell again. The others attentions were either on the two objects or on the decorative rug that was covering the far wall.

"With her," Lowkey said as he pulled off one of the sheets to reveal a glass sarcophagus with an unconscious woman inside. The woman was in her mid twenties and had greatly resembled Buffy. "Say hello to one of your great… great-grandmothers." Buffy stopped walking and stared at the woman as Lowkey turned towards the others. "Now if you don't mind, I want to be alone with Buffy and her grandparents. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise what?" Buffy interrupted with as she shot him a fiery 'killing with the eyes' look.

"Now, now, Slayer," Lowkey said as he picked up a high caliber pistol and held it loosely in his right hand. "I would hold that temper if I was you. This woman is still alive and if I killed her this very moment, it will completely wipe out your existence."

Buffy inched her way closer to Lowkey while saying, "If I'm not mistaken, the woman who you had captured is Teresa Wesley."

"Stop right there, Slayer or I'll kill her now," Lowkey warned.

Buffy stopped inching forward before asking, "So what was the date when your minions captured her?"

"May 11 or 12 of 1886," Lowkey answered. "Does it really manner though?"

"It does actually," Buffy said before inching forward again.

"Stop right there, Slayer," Lowkey again warned.

"The date matters because Teresa Wesley and her husband Nick had a six-year-old daughter at the time of their disappearance on May 12, 1886," Buffy said as she continued to inch closer. "Her name was Katie. Teresa's daughter Katie was also a great-great-grandmother of mine by one generation closer to me."

"What?" Lowkey quickly questioned in horror.

"The only thing that will happen by you killing that woman is pissing me off even more," Buffy hissed.

"You're lying," Lowkey quickly surmised. "You're trying to delay me in killing her." Lowkey went to aim the pistol at the sarcophagus. "But I won't fall for it."

Buffy threw her sword with an underhand pitch and before Lowkey could pull the trigger, Buffy's sword had sliced open his right wrist. The pistol was immediately dropped to the floor. Once the handle of the pistol hit the hard dirt-floor, it had fired a round into the ceiling just above Lowkey's head and damaging one of the primary symbols of the cloaking spell.

Lowkey shot Buffy a fear-stricken look before he quickly backed up towards the wall with the decorative rug. When he saw Buffy and her group making their move to apprehend him, he turned and ran as fast as he could. Buffy grabbed her sword on a run and got inches away at capturing Lowkey when he dove for the wall at the floor. When he hit the rug, the rug was shoved out of the way and Lowkey disappeared down a descending hole that was barely big enough for him to fit.

When Buffy looked down the hole, she said, "I'll be damn. He did pull off a magic trick."

As Willow, Xander, Cat and Amber were stepping up to Buffy, a portal opened up underneath where the ceiling was shot. As everyone turned to look, ten men dressed in regular street clothes came dashing out.

When the lead man saw the group, he demanded to know, "Where is he?"

"I'm sorry and you are?" Buffy asked.

"I'm Major Thisor of King Dragnot's royal guard." He then demanded to know again, "Now where is he?"

"If you mean a small demon that can control deviants, I'm afraid he just ducked out," Buffy said. "Don't worry though. As soon as we catch up with him again, I'll make sure to hand over his severed body part to you."

"You're here to kill him?" Major Thisor questioned.

Buffy held up her sword while saying, "My friends and I aren't toting these just for sport."

"Well, you can't kill him," Major Thisor quickly said.

"Let me introduce myself," she began. "I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I kill demons and this demon that you're after is as good as dead when I catch up with him again."

"I don't care who you are," Major Thisor slightly hissed. "He belongs to us."

"If you want him alive then you and your men had better find him before me," Buffy warned. "Because if I find him first, I'm killing him."

"You're just a woman," one of Major Thisor's men commented.

"I have never been just a woman," Buffy told him. "I have been chosen to fight demons… powerful and not so powerful by the Powers That Be since I was fifteen. I'm thirty-two now, so that should tell you how good I am. And I assure you that I'm capable of handling all ten of you without my friends' help."

Major Thisor took a deep breath while giving Buffy a bothersome look. Without uttering a syllable, he checked a scanner that he had. He then turned towards his men while saying, "He's close. Go find him."

"Yes, sir," one of them said before the nine men marched away.

Major Thisor gave Buffy a challenging stare. Buffy just stared back with a smug grin on her face as if to say, "Any time you're feeling lucky."

Major Thisor held his stare for only a moment before he turned away and followed behind his men.

When Major Thisor disappeared into the next room, Cat asked, "How was it that Lowkey's presence was detected?"

Willow gestured towards the bullet hole in the ceiling before saying, "He was uncloak for a moment after the gun went off and broke the spell above his head."

"Well, we need to find Lowkey before they do," Buffy said.

"I might be able to do a locator spell," Willow suggested.

"Hopefully these tunnels aren't that big," Buffy said. "So Xander, Cat, Amber and I will just look for him the non-magical way."

"You didn't include me in that search party," Willow pointed out.

Buffy stepped up to the second sarcophagus and removed the bed-sheet before saying while staring at the unconscious man, "That's because I need you to take my grandparents to TEC headquarters. I need you to contact the Witch's Council and find a way to revive them. Just be back here in one hour."

"Is one hour enough time to find and kill Lowkey?" Xander asked.

"In one hour, I'm sure Lowkey will be found by either us or by Major Thisor and his men," Buffy said. "I just hope it's by us."

"Buff, I'll open the portal, but I'll need your guys' help to get your… your grandparent into the portal," Willow said.

"It might be easier to send them back if we take them out of their glass coffins," Xander suggested.

"Okay, Will, open the portal," Buffy began. "Cat, help me with my grandma. Xander; Amber, you two get my grandpa out."

"On it," Amber said .

Willow gestured towards the circle while saying, "Your great grandmother's glass coffin is setting on the circle that I need to open the portal with."

"Cat, let's move her over there," Buffy said as she pointed to a spot away from the circle. Cat just nodded. Everyone then went to his or her respective assignment.

After the sarcophagus was off the circle, Willow prepared to cast her spell as Buffy and Cat opened the sarcophagus. Once Buffy's grandparents were out of sarcophaguses, Buffy held up Teresa as Xander and Amber held up Nick.

Once Willow got the portal open ten minutes later, Willow held up Teresa and went through the portal together.

When Xander and Amber stepped up to the portal, Xander said, "Buff, I don't like the idea of just pushing your comatose grandpa into the portal. Perhaps I should go back with him so he doesn't just drop on the other side."

Buffy nodded in agreement before saying, "Amber, Cat and I will be fine."

"I'll see you in an hour," Xander said before stepping into the portal.

Once the portal closed seconds later, Buffy ordered, "Let's move."

Buffy, Amber and Cat each picked up a glowing crystal to use as a flashlight before going off into the dark tunnels.

During the passing minutes, Buffy learned that the tunnels were longer than she expected after walking for a good distance and coming to several intersections, twists, ascending sections or descending sections or combination of the four. They crossed paths with a few of Major Thisor's men and a few divarian-root demons during their search for Lowkey. After walking for ten minutes, Buffy and her group stepped into a moderately size chamber with rows and rows of magical looking glasses.

"Are these those magical things that Willow was telling us about earlier?" Cat asked.

"They are," Buffy said. "Give me your ax."

Buffy and Cat swapped weapons and once Buffy had the ax she began smashing the magical looking glasses.

On the surface a small percentage of people and demons between Illinois and the eastern seacoast of the United States had experienced a momentary dizziness.

In a warehouse in Washington D.C. one of Lowkey's wizard type demons was performing powerful magic on the Master's bones when he felt the sensation of being released from Lowkey's thrall. The demon's interruption was slight and once the sensation was over, he went back to the spell to resurrect the Master.

After a short time, Buffy had smashed every magical looking glass in the room.

As Buffy, Amber and Cat were looking over the destruction, Amber asked, "Feel better?"

Buffy grinned before saying, "I do actually." She then gestured towards the second entryway. "Let's move on." They then left the chamber.

At the warehouse where the Master was being resurrected, muscle and skin began to grow across the skeleton at a fast pace. In a short time he was whole again and before the demon realized that the Master had awakened, the Master had snapped his neck.

In the tunnels, Buffy, Amber and Cat walked for a few more minutes within a gradual descending right bend of the tunnel. After stepping into another chamber, Buffy saw a small ascending tunnel and surmised that they where in the location Lowkey had escaped to.

The chamber had three exits other than the entryway that they came through. Amber knelt down and held the crystal to the floor while looking for the most recent footsteps. After seeing a fresh set of footprints going off in a certain direction, they followed. They walked for only a short time when they came upon Major Thisor and seven of his men with Lowkey.

When Major Thisor saw Buffy, Amber and Cat walking up, he told them, "As you can see, we found and captured him first. We're taking him with us."

"I know Lowkey was created to locate deviants in order to kill them," Buffy began. "Killing deviants is wrong. Lowkey is the one that needs to die."

"I know it is," Major Thisor hissed. Buffy, Cat and Amber were caught slightly off guard by his agreement. "Everything about King Dragnot is wrong, but I would be as good as dead if I don't obey him. That goes for anyone else who would attempt to stand up against him. Now we're taking this demon and if you attempt to stop us there will be bloodshed. And that bloodshed won't stop with us. King Dragnot is crazy enough to declare war with this dimension over this demon."

"Fine, take him," Buffy said. "Before you leave you should know that one person with the strength and courage to stand up for what is right can make a difference."

Major Thisor slightly smirked before saying, "I'm not that person."

"If you feel that Lowkey should die then why don't you kill him and then tell King Dragnot that he was killed before you got to him?" Cat questioned.

"King Dragnot surrounds himself with sorcerers and witches for protection and most of those witches can read thoughts," Major Thisor began. "I would be discovered immediately if I tried to pull off a treacherous act like that. I'm afraid that the thought of killing Lowkey had died when we found him first."

"Take him, but…" Buffy said as Major Thisor's final two men were walking up. One of them was carrying the carrier with Tabby in it.

"Hey that's my cat," Amber uttered out as she pointed to the carrier while interrupting what Buffy was saying.

"You brought a cat to these tunnels?" the man questioned.

After Amber explained to him why the cat was there, she was given back the cat.

"Now, Major Thisor, what I was about to say when the issue about the cat came up; if Lowkey ever get loose again, we will kill him on sight." Buffy said.

"He won't get away again," Major Thisor assured her. "The witch who had helped him escape had died while being interrogated."

"How did she die?" Buffy asked.

"Does it matter?" Major Thisor asked.

"I know the witch who helped Lowkey escape," Buffy began. "Her name is Kathleen Post. She was once a part of a group that I'm associated with before she betrayed us five years ago; however, a few months before that, allies from another dimension had taught her how to magically fake her own death without really dying."

"I assure you, she did not fake her death," Major Thisor said.

"Alright, unless Kathleen shows up at some point in the future, I'll trust that she is," Buffy said.

"Well, our business here is done," Major Thisor said. "So we'll be leaving this dimension." He then gestured towards the tunnel to his men. "There's a chamber just down there. We'll open a portal there." His men acknowledged him before marching in the direction with Lowkey. Major Thisor faced Buffy again and slightly hesitated to ask, "Do you have a way out of these tunnels."

"The person who brought us here will return in about thirty minutes to get us out," Buffy said.

"If you don't want to wait thirty minutes, I'll have my portal-conjurer to send you and your friends back to the surface," Major Thisor said.

"Why would you help us?" Cat quickly asked.

"We might not be allies, but we're not enemies either," Major Thisor began. "You three did honor our rights along with giving us a warning about what Kathleen was capable of; therefore, since you respected me and my men, there's no reason why I can't return the favor."

"Alright," Buffy said. "We'll take you up on your offer to send us to the surface."

Major Thisor nodded before saying, "You had two others with you."

"They took the two in the glass coffins to the surface," Buffy said. She then gestured towards Amber and Cat. "So we're all who are down here."

"Then we should go," Major Thisor said. When Buffy gestured for him to go first he nodded before walking. Buffy, Amber and Cat followed behind him. "Oh and you three should know that you three will be sent to a house that we were renting for the past few years."

"Where is it located?" Buffy asked.

When Major Thisor said where it was, Buffy calculated that it was a few miles from the TEC headquarters.

Minutes later, at TEC headquarters, Willow was preparing to reopen the portals to the tunnels on the dock. Xander and Giles were standing off to the side while watching. Willow was in the middle of the incantation when Buffy, Amber and Cat stepped onto the dock. Amber was carrying the carrier with Tabby in it.

Willow's back was to the dock doors and when Xander and Giles saw them, Giles said, "Willow." Willow didn't respond so Giles said a little louder, "Willow!"

Willow looked at Giles while saying, "Giles, please. I need quiet. Now I have to start over."

Buffy grinned while saying, "Giles, what's wrong with you." Willow swung around to look with a stun expression on her face. "You know that when people cast their magic, they need uninterrupted silence."

Willow continued to look at Buffy and the others with a stunned expression on her face while asking, "How?"

"Major Thisor beat us to Lowkey," Buffy said. "Since I honored him and his men at capturing Lowkey before us, he opened up a portal for us to return to the surface."

"So Lowkey is not dead?" Giles questioned.

"No, but I have a feeling that his influence over people in this dimension is over," Buffy said.

"What if Kathleen decides to team up with him again?" Xander questioned.

"Well, according to Major Thisor, Kathleen is dead," Buffy said in a skeptical tone.

"You don't believe that though?" Willow questioned.

"You know as well as I do that six years ago, Kathleen was the first one to jump on the opportunity to learn the spell on how to fake her own death," Buffy said.

Willow just gave a look as if to say, "True."

"Anyway, has anyone heard from Kennedy or from Faith?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, great news," Giles said. "Kennedy, Dean and Sam found Dr. Briers. He was killed and the time machine is secured. Capt. Matuzek had sent a team to retrieve the machine."

"Great," Buffy said. "Was Wilson sent where he belongs?"

"He was," Willow said. "I did it once Xander and I got back."

"Good," Buffy said. "Now what about my great-great grandparents?"

"Oh, great news with that too," Willow began. "Faith, Dean and Sam had gotten the information on which demon that had effected them and they were immediately revived. They're now in the infirmary being examined by Dr. Boswell."

"So they're awake?" Buffy questioned. Willow just nodded. "Were they frightened?"

"More confused than anything," Willow said.

"And asking a lot of questions," Xander added.

"Capt. Matuzek and Dawn are with them and trying to bring them up to date," Giles said.

"I better go and introduce myself," Buffy said.

"Buff, you should know that since your grandparents' capture didn't set off any time-disruption alarms, Capt. Matuzek indicated that he won't be sending them back into the past," Xander said.

Buffy just nodded. She then turned and left the dock.

In the infirmary, Teresa and Nick were sitting next to one another on an examining bed. Dawn, while holding Hunter, was standing next to them while talking about the modern world. Capt. Matuzek was standing next to Dawn while helping Dawn out where he could. Dr. Boswell was across the room and was preparing the inoculations for Teresa and Nick.

When Buffy stepped into the infirmary all eyes turned towards her. Capt. Matuzek stepped up to her near the entrance and said, "In about two hours, everyone from your group should be back. You and they are to meet me in the main conference room when they do get here."

"We'll be there," Buffy said.

"Well, I'll let you and your great-great… possibly two more 'greats' grandparents get to know each other," Capt. Matuzek said. He then left the infirmary.

When Buffy stepped up, Teresa said, "You do favor me."

Buffy smiled before saying, "I'm sorry that I got you two dragged into what I do."

"Well, learning about what happened to us does explain a few things," Teresa said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"She was a potential," Dawn answered for Teresa. "Or 'is' depending how you look at it. She had the intense dreams about fighting vampires and demons when she was a teenager."

"Well, I hope that the knowledge of demons actually being real wasn't too much of a shock for you… for either of you," Buffy said.

"Well, I'm still trying to come to terms with it," Nick said.

"I hope you aren't too wigged out by it," Buffy told Nick. Nick looked at her as if she had spoken a foreign language. "Ah, wigged out as in freaked out, frightened, shaken up."

Nick grinned before saying, "No, I wasn't too wigged out."

"Okay, I'm ready to administer the first rounds of the inoculations," Dr. Boswell said while stepping up with the injection needles. Buffy stepped to the side to give Dr. Boswell some room.

When Hunter saw the needles he started to cry. Dawn said in a slight amused, but soothing tone, "No-no, sweetie. Those shots aren't for you." Dawn then stepped back to put a little more distance between Dr. Boswell and Hunter.

Hunter calmed down when he saw that Teresa was the one who got the shot. She rubbed her arms afterwards with a sour expression on her face. She then looked at Hunter and said, "You're right, Hunter. That hurts."

Once Nick was inoculated, Buffy questioned, "So what should I call you two?"

"Well, I'm only twenty-five, so calling me grandma or great-great grandma would sound kind of silly from you," Teresa said.

"Perhaps you should call us Nick and Teresa," Nick suggested.

"Nick and Teresa it is," Buffy said.

"Teresa; Nick, you two are actually done for today," Dr. Boswell said. "You two will need to come back in a few days for another round of shots."

"How often do we have to come back?" Nick asked.

"You two will be completely done in a couple of weeks," Dr. Boswell said.

"The shot are to increase immunity to certain diseases," Buffy told Nick and Teresa.

Teresa grinned and nodded as Dawn said, "Dr. Boswell covered that already."

"Oh, of course," Buffy said.

"Anyway, Nick, Teresa, I'm now supposed to take you two to the conference room down the hall and show you documentary films that we discussed that will help ease you into the year 2013," Dawn said as she stepped closer again.

"Moving pictures with sound; that's something I have to see to believe," Nick said as he stood up.

"Are you joining us, Buffy?" Teresa asked.

Buffy glanced at her watch before saying, "I can join you four for a short time before I have to meet with Capt. Matuzek."

Teresa held out her hands for Hunter while saying, "So can I hold you?" Hunter grinned as he went to Teresa.

As Teresa carried Hunter, Buffy and Dawn led her and Nick to the conference room.

The conference room was set up with a laptop and a laptop projector. The lights were off in the room. Buffy entered first and after three stepped into the room the lights automatically came on.

"I would've never imagined in my wildest dreams that lights would come on when someone entered a room," Nick said as he walked in behind Teresa.

Buffy grinned before saying, "Well, lights coming on automatically is more for commercial and office buildings. Lights in residential buildings are operated with light switches. Those switches are normally located inside the room on the wall near the doorway." She then gestured towards the light switch for the room "In fact there's a light switch there that will override the sensors and turned off the lights even though we're in the room."

"But let's leave the lights on though, shall we," Dawn said. "Anyway, everyone take your seats and I'll start the show."

Everyone took a seat. When Teresa sat down, she placed Hunter in her lap. Dawn sat down in front of the laptop.

Documentaries, concise overview and long narrated reenactments, had been created over the years by the TEC team in order to teach rookie Timecops history and after Dawn made a few clicks with the mouse she had brought up one of the concise documentaries closest to the year 1886.

As the documentary began Buffy jokingly said, "I suddenly got the urge for some popcorn."

"Shshsh," Dawn quickly hissed.

"Okay, one day of actual employment here and it's going to your head," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Dawn whined.

"Okay, okay," Buffy said as she slightly held up her hands as if to surrender.

"You two are definitely sisters," Nick said with a grin. Buffy just gave Nick a grin.

Buffy sat and watch for an hour and fifty minutes. The segment on world events in the 1930's was being shown when she got up and left.

Buffy found her entire group in a short time and once everyone was together; except for Alexis and the three potentials who were playing a board game in the cafeteria, they piled in the main conference room one after the other.

Once everyone was seated, Capt. Matuzek began, "First off, I would like to congratulation everyone on finding the time-machine quickly. I know the ones who had ventured into the past might not think it was quick, but it was. The threat isn't completely over though. The logs from that time machine indicate that a handful of travelers, travelers that have not been dealt with, had traveled into the past. There's no doubt that those travelers are demons and although time disruption warnings haven't sounded yet, it doesn't mean that it won't days, weeks or even years from now."

"Does that mean that you want us to stick around?" Nichole asked.

"In a matter of speaking," Capt. Matuzek said. "Buffy; Giles, I've been given permission to look towards your organization for potential recruitment for future timecops and that offer starts immediately."

"Aren't there requirements to become a timecop?" Cat questioned.

"There are, but I will work with any one of you to meet those requirements… or in some of your cases, perhaps waive certain requirements all together," Capt. Matuzek said. "Would any of you be interested at becoming a TEC officer?"

When Buffy saw Cat glancing nervously at her, she rolled her eyes before saying, "It's okay, Cat, if you want to join the TEC. You don't need my permission. No one here needs my permission."

"This is something I would like to do," Cat said. "Capt. Matuzek, I would like to pursue at becoming a timecop."

Capt. Matuzek nodded before asking, "Anyone else?"

Nichole slightly raised her hand while saying, "Here."

"So it's only Cat and Nichole?" Capt. Matuzek questioned.

"Amber; Valerie, what about you two?" Buffy asked.

"I'm more interested at learning witchcraft from Willow," Valerie said.

"I prefer to stick with what I know," Amber said. "Slaying demons and perhaps teaching karate."

"Sam and my gig is also fighting demons," Dean answered. Sam just slightly nodded in agreement.

"I have responsibilities in L.A.," Faith said.

Willow, Xander and Kennedy just sat there shaking their heads.

"Okay, well, Cat and Nichole is a start," Capt. Matuzek said. "As far as the Watcher-slayer organization, I have an added bonus for you. A reward you might say." Capt. Matuzek took out a check from his papers, walked over and handed it to Giles.

When Giles saw the amount, he slightly choked while saying, "This… this is for a million dollars."

"Not counting the obvious damages to the time-stream, Dr. Briers could have done significant financial damage that could have led into billions," Capt. Matuzek began. "So if I had my way about it that check would have been worth five million or more; however, the reward amount wasn't up to me."

"This is actually generously more than I expected," Giles said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Capt. Matuzek said. "Anyway, Buffy, you and your crew did an amazing job so thank you. And that's really all I have. Except for Cat and Nichole who I would like to come back at six in the morning, you are all free to leave."

After everyone stood up, Giles shook Capt. Matuzek's hand followed by Buffy and then the others.

The end of 'Buffy… The TimeCop?' The saga is to be continued. I haven't decided on the title yet.


End file.
